No matter what slurs and accusations may be thrown at Liverpool’s American owners, for as long as they retain a grip on this “wonderful franchise”, they will always lay claim to delivering Fernando Torres to Merseyside and for that, if nothing else, his adoring public should be thankful. Whether or not they dipped into their own pockets to do so is a different matter, but after a second hat-trick in successive appearances at Anfield last night, the club’s £20.5 million outlay last summer is looking a masterstroke.

Torres missed training on Tuesday with a stomach bug, but there could be no better antidote than another hat-trick as Liverpool reclaimed fourth place in the Barclays Premier League from Everton with a resounding victory. Admittedly, it came against a poor West Ham United team, who had lost by the same scoreline at home to Chelsea four days earlier. Alan Curbishley delivered a withering appraisal of their performance but, as abject as the London team were last night, Liverpool were impressive. Torres ensured that their fourth consecutive win in all competitions was secured with a swagger that was absent from their play during much of this winter of discontent.

“I think the team was really good, a great performance,” Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, said. “Torres is on fire. He had a small problem before the game and we were thinking about maybe resting him, but he was OK. If he continues scoring goals, I’m sure he will be a threat to defenders.”

This is what is known as understatement. Certainly, West Ham’s defence could not get close to him, with Lucas Neill, the captain, enduring a miserable evening and Matthew Upson limping off with a calf strain in the closing stages. Neill and his colleagues breathed a sigh of relief when Torres departed to a standing ovation after his third goal but there was still time for Steven Gerrard to score a spectacular fourth goal, leaving Curbishley at the mercy of West Ham’s supporters. Having begun by calling for him to play two men up front, they finished by chanting “It’s just like watching Charlton” — quite damning, really, at the risk of offending anyone in London SE7.

“We made no impression on Liverpool,” Curbishley said. “It’s the second time in four days we’ve played a top-four side. They were going to be tough games but I didn’t expect the two performances to let ourselves down like that. The last four days is the first time this season they’ve let themselves down. We’ve had, well, not a crisis meeting, but a bit of a meeting in the dressing-room.”

The problem for Curbishley, as he prepares his team to face Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, is one of context. Were West Ham truly awful or did Liverpool make them look so? It seemed to be a bit of both; even if they were unfortunate to be faced with a centre forward, Torres, in such spectacular form, they could hardly claim to have made life difficult for him.

The first goal was a case in point, with Anton Ferdinand seemingly well placed to deal with a routine right-wing cross from Dirk Kuyt. There was the slightest hint of a deflection but, if that was what threw Ferdinand, there was no faulting the reactions of Torres, who sent a right-foot shot across Robert Green.

The main problem for Liverpool this season has been dropping points, usually from winning positions, but there was no danger of that once Torres scored his second goal on the hour, again left unchallenged to score with a header from another tame-looking cross by Kuyt. Moments later, he stooped to head a menacing cross by Gerrard against the inside of the post, but he was not to be denied a hat-trick, which he duly claimed with nine minutes remaining when he wriggled past a weak challenge from Neill and struck a right-foot shot that Green might feel he should have kept out.

Green had rather less chance of keeping out the fourth goal, which was struck from 25 yards by Gerrard two minutes later. By this time Torres was on the bench, the warmth of his ovation still ringing in his ears.

At the final whistle, the paeans to Torres eventually gave rise to some rather less complimentary chants about Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the club’s American owners, as part of the latest sit-in protest on the Kop. As a snapshot of life at Anfield in 2008, it was quite revealing. Curbishley, though, had worries of his own.

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): J M Reina – Á Arbeloa, J Carragher, M Skrtel, J A Riise – X Alonso, J Mascherano – D Kuyt (sub: Y Benayoun, 63min), S Gerrard, R Babel (sub: J Pennant, 76) – F Torres (sub: P Crouch, 82). Substitutes not used: C Itandje, S Hyypia.

West Ham United (4-1-4-1): R Green – L Neill, A Ferdinand, M Upson (sub: J Spector, 63), G McCartney – H Mullins – F Ljungberg, N Solano (sub: D Ashton, 69), M Noble, L Boa Morte – C Cole (sub: R Zamora, 69). Substitutes not used: R Wright, J Paintsil. Booked: Cole, Neill, Noble.

Referee: S Bennett.