Liverpool 4 West Brom 1: Sturridge & Suárez hard to contain, says Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers praised Daniel Sturridge and hat-trick hero Luis Suarez after Liverpool ran out comfortable winners against West Bromwich Albion.

The 26-year-old Uruguayan opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a super solo effort before heading his second goal of the afternoon moments later.

The Uruguay international completed his hat-trick 10 minutes after the interval before West Brom’s Scotland midfielder James Morrison pulled one back from the penalty spot.

Daniel Sturridge then continued his goal-scoring run as the England man bagged his eighth Premier League strike of the campaign to seal an emphatic victory at Anfield.

Brendan Rodgers’ side leapfrogged Chelsea into second place courtesy of their win ahead of a trip to leaders Arsenal next weekend, and the Reds boss was thrilled with the display.

“They’re very hard to contain. Both of them have different qualities and both are goal scorers,” Rodgers told BBC Sport.

“I thought our midfield three today were excellent. We’re just looking to keep improving, not getting carried away, and the boys at the top end did their job and got the goals.

“It should be a brilliant game (against Arsenal) next week.”

Meanwhile, West Brom boss Steve Clarke admitted the Baggies were beaten by the better side.

He said: “It was a difficult afternoon. We set ourselves up to be open, but maybe we were a little bit too open. The first goal is disappointing to lose and the second goal is an unbelievable header from the edge of the box.

“We kept going, you can’t fault the effort, but we gave ourselves too big a mountain to climb. We created a number of chances, it was an open game, probably great for the Liverpool fans to watch.

“At the moment their two boys up front are in form and we suffered for that.”