Steven Gerrard Double Gives Liverpool Faint Hope of Title Tilt

Fatboy Slim's handbag-house offering "Right Here Right Now" had been the choice of Upton Park's PA controller ahead of the local's ritual singing of the ode about blowing bubbles. Though the track from Brighton's only superstar DJ may have talked more to Liverpool's need to yet again maintain the pressure on Manchester United by beating West Ham, the feeling was that the actual now-or-never moment had occurred three weeks ago.

That was when Liverpool's chances of claiming the league after 19 years moved from realistic to moribund ­courtesy of Andrey Arshavin's quadruple in ­Arsenal's 4-4 draw at Anfield. It meant that all Rafael Benítez's men could do was to keep on winning. And hoping. Hoping that United's nerve will slip, a prospect that gets its latest outing this afternoon in the Manchester derby.

As for the winning bit, Liverpool's ­victory here in east London was a canter that ended in a stroll when the substitute Ryan Babel made it 3-0 six minutes from time.

The first half would end in near farce, with Alan Wiley offering a more hirsute imitation of the unfortunate Tom ­Herring Ovrebo. Before that moment, though, it had taken two minutes for Gianfranco Zola to be driven crazy as his team allowed Liverpool a far too soft opener. Fernando Torres, who faded around the period's mid-point only to win a (controversial) penalty nine minutes before the break, was allowed enough time to pick out Steven Gerrard, who had a full gallop on down the inside-right channel. There was no flag and the captain's swerve beyond a floundering Robert Green, before ­finding the net had a relaxed smoothness that ­carried a ­warning. This was that West Ham might find themselves dumped from the contest even earlier than ­Arsenal had been by Manchester United in their ­midweek Champions League tussle.

This did almost come to pass. Gerrard reversed their previous roles when he sprung Torres free into the space West Ham again allowed down their left. But Matthew Upson was able to blunt the attempt from El Niño to muscle around the back of him and West Ham were then able to play some football in Liverpool's half.

Junior Stanislas, an intriguingly named 19-year-old English wide man, should have picked out a colleague on 25 ­minutes. Instead his cross from the left went straight out for a throw-in on the opposite side. A minute later Mark Noble offered him a lesson by placing the ball precisely on Radoslav Kovac's head, but the midfielder's effort was too high.

That was about as good as it got for the Hammers. Soon after, there was a second for Gerrard, which came as Wiley got his Ovrebo impression up and running. It began when Torres came together with Luís Boa Morte in the area – the decision to award the penalty appeared ­debatable at least. But, Wiley pointed to the spot and, while Gerrard's first effort was saved by Green, the midfielder ­stumbled to the rebound and still managed to make it 2-0.

Then came the comedy. Jamie ­Carragher completely missed when hoping to connect a regulation boot to ball. David Di Michele pounced and ran at José Reina. His snake-hipped dummy removed the Spaniard from the argument but as the striker rounded the keeper he slipped and ended with his face in the grass. Up ran Wiley to complete the ­Italian's humiliation by showing him a yellow card, the referee, for some reason, deciding he had dived rather than want to score for his team.

That meant West Ham had missed a gold-plated opportunity to pull one back and began the turn around more in hope than confidence. The early moments hardly augured well for them. Yossi Benayoun and Torres threatened to ­finish proceedings with efforts within 10 minutes of the restart. And when Zola's team did advance, their attacks either ­fizzled out when Reina came into view or there was a lack of composed finish, as occurred when Hérita Ilunga's pull-back was walloped wide by Di Michele.

What Liverpool, for their part, have beyond the solid defence and steel-tough midfield that are regulation issue for all title contenders is the ability to counter-attack as ruthlessly as United. We were shown exactly how this kills sides when a foray from the home team broke up and Gerrard's run span West Ham on their heels. It ended with Dirk Kuyt unable to manage what Babel did when the Dutchman, on for Torres, smashed past Green. Liverpool's striker had left proceedings 15 minutes earlier. If City can turn over United then it will be cigar time on ­Merseyside.