Liverpool overcame Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge as Fernando Torres made his debut for the Blues but was substituted in the second half when Raul Meireles scored a deserved winner. Not so much a football match, more a meeting of two open cheque books as Chelsea and Liverpool, who between them spent £134m on the final day of the transfer window, met at Stamford Bridge.
Of course £50m of that total was spent on Liverpool's Fernando Torres who made his debut against his old team.
The Blues other major buy at half that amount was defender David Luiz from Benfica who started on the bench.
Liverpool also chose to bench £23m striker Luis Suarez from Ajax whilst their £36m marquee signing, Andy Carroll from Newcastle, was out injured.
But in the end it was striker bought by former Reds boss Roy Hodgson who made the headlines with a fine finish at the far post to give Liverpool the double over Chelsea this season.
For Liverpool it is now four consecutive league wins on the bounce as they easily dealt with a ponderous Blues performance which frustrated both the fans and boss Carlo Ancelotti.
Torres had a chance in the first minute, then was brilliantly tackled by Jamie Carragher as the Spaniard shaped to pull the trigger, but apart from that he had a game to forget along with his new colleagues.
Liverpool sat back and simply picked Chelsea off on the break and should have gone in at half-time in the lead but for a terrible miss from six yards by Maxi Rodriguez.
The first period was littered by mistakes from both teams but Chelsea's laboured approach play rarely threatened the visitor's backline.
The goal came on 68 minutes as Gerrard sent over a superb cross causing confusion between Petr Cech and Branislav Ivanovic, and Meireles at the back post applied the finishing touch.
Chelsea supporters were soon streaming from the ground as the perfect opportunity to make ground on leaders Manchester United was missed.
Those that did stay saw a late Blues rally in which Florent Malouda had a shot well saved and Ivanovic had a strong penalty appeal turned down after a push by Glen Johnson.
Referee: Andre Marriner
Venue: Stamford Bridge Attendance: 41,829
Chelsea scorers: Liverpool scorers: Meireles 69
CHELSEA 01 Cech 02 Ivanovic 03 A Cole 17 Bosingwa (David Luiz 73) 26 Terry 05 Essien 08 Lampard 12 Mikel (yellow card) (Malouda 71) 09 Torres (Kalou 66) 11 Drogba 39 Anelka
Substitutes 22 Turnbull, 04 David Luiz, 19 Ferreira, 15 Malouda, 46 McEachran, 55 Sala, 21 Kalou
LIVERPOOL 25 Reina 02 G Johnson 05 Agger 23 Carragher 34 Kelly 37 Skrtel 04 Meireles (Poulsen 83) 08 Gerrard 17 Maxi (Aurelio 75) 21 Lucas (yellow card) 18 Kuyt
Substitutes 42 Gulacsi, 06 Aurelio, 16 Kyrgiakos, 28 Poulsen, 07 Suarez, 14 Jovanovic, 24 Ngog
Click here for the No1 coverage of all the gossip and transfer news around Chelsea.
Click here for the No1 coverage of all the gossip and transfer news around Liverpool.