In an ill-tempered match in which as many as nine players were booked, Fernando Torres had opened the scoring in the first half for Rafa Benitez’s side, who came out hard at the visitors and maintained an upper hand right through the match.

Frank Lampard scored the equaliser in the second half from the penalty spot as the Blues seemed to have had a lucky decision from the referee Rob Styles.

The Reds came out very aggressively as skipper Steven Gerrard showed no signs of any niggle from his toe injury, and saw a lot of ball along with John Arne Riise and Jermaine Pennant.

Michael Essien playing at right-back was kept busy by Riise, who saw a grounder from long way out saved by Petr Cech in the 13th minute.

Torres scored his first Liverpool goal on his Anfield debut in the 16th minute after easily shaking off rival defender Tal Ben Haim and placing the ball towards the far end of Cech’s goal.

Gerrard played a key role in the opener as he sent the Spain striker on his way with a fabulous ball from half-way line.

Gerrard made an important tackle as Salomon Kalou was in a threatening position inside the Reds box in the 27th minute. Soon after, Didier Drogba’s header off a Shaun Wright-Phillips cross sailed over Pepe Reina’s goal.

Dirk Kuyt tried a long range shot but was way off the target just after the half-hour mark.

Tempers started rising as the first half wore on with Blues skipper John Terry showing his annoyance at Torres’ challenge on him.

Minutes later, the England captain failed to get any sort of contact from handshaking distance from Reds goal on a Lampard free-kick from left after breaking through the rival defence.

In the 45th minute, Torres failed to get on the other end of a cross from right winger Pennant.

Torres was caught by the Blues midfielder John Obi Mikel in the final minute of the first half and the former Atletico Madrid ace limped off the field at half time interval.

Torres was fit to start the second half while Claudio Pizarro came in for Salomon Kalou after the half time interval.

Mikel saw his header following a corner in the 48th minute miss the mark and soon after Pizarro could not direct his nod onto the target either after Wright-Phillips had belted in a good cross.

Gerrard took little time asserting himself on the second-half proceedings and in the end it was Mikel who put in an excellent block in the 51st minute.

Pennant looked impressive and his sharp work went unrewarded as Xabi Alonso’s effort did not trouble Cech close to the hour-mark.

Chelsea were awarded a fortunate penalty as Florent Malouda was deemed to be fouled by Daniel Agger but the decision from Styles looked very debatable. Nonetheless, Lampard came up with the equaliser, sending Reina the other way, in the 61st minute.

The Reds came up with a superb move in the 68th minute with a long ball from deep for Pennant seeing the former Arsenal man set up Risse, whose first-time shot from the edge of the box however was off-target.

Cech did well to block a Riise attempt from a tight angle resulting in a corner kick after substitute Ryan Babel sent in a cross from right as the Reds continued to press on for the winner. Kuyt then saw his header tipped over the crosspiece, followed by his compatriot Babel hammering into the side-netting.