As the dust settled and the snow began to stick on the streets around Anfield, only one story truly mattered last night. There had been anguish for Frank Lampard, more humiliation for Robbie Keane, the rebirth of Fernando Torres and the slightest encouragement for Rafael BenÍtez in his contract negotiations, but, fairly or otherwise, this was the afternoon when Liverpool shrugged off the self-doubt and established themselves once and for all as the only threat to Manchester United’s hopes of a third successive Premier League title.

Chelsea? Do not bet on it. They left Merseyside cursing Mike Riley’s decision to send off Lampard for a challenge on Xabi Alonso on the hour, when they were on course for a goalless draw, but Luiz Felipe Scolari cannot allow that incident to cloud his perception of a team who again came up short when it mattered against one of their main rivals in the Premier League. Beaten by Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, they have taken one point from two matches against Manchester United this season and have now allowed Liverpool to beat them at home and away. It is a damning statistic that, irrespective of the minutiae of this latest setback, will raise questions about the direction that the Scolari regime is taking.

In some senses, Chelsea were unfortunate. Lampard’s red card looked harsh in the extreme - the more so given that Steven Gerrard, the opposing captain, escaped without so much as a yellow card for a similar challenge on John Obi Mikel two minutes earlier - while, even without him, his teammates were able to keep Liverpool at bay until the final moments. Then Torres struck, casting aside the frustrations of the previous few months to give Liverpool the lead with a soaring header in the 89th minute and twisting the knife with a second goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

When Liverpool won at Stamford Bridge in September, Sir Alex Ferguson said quite pointedly that it was the result he had been hoping for. Recent draws notwithstanding, it is a mark of how far Liverpool have come in the meantime - and of how far Chelsea have fallen - that a scowl is likely to have settled upon the United manager’s face last night. United are still strong favourites to win the title but, with Torres firing once more, having missed much of the season with recurring hamstring problems, Liverpool suddenly look a rather more fearsome proposition than when being held away to Wigan Athletic four days earlier.

The sending-off, though, was a lousy decision. It seemed like a 50-50 challenge between Lampard and Alonso. By the time Alonso got to the ball, it had become 55-45 in the Liverpool player’s favour. Both players got a piece of the ball, but Riley felt that Lampard, in following through with what looked an unintentional kick at Alonso’s foot, overstepped the mark.

Perhaps Riley was swayed by an interview on Saturday in which Lampard talked of “something between me and Alonso”, dating back to when the Liverpool player’s ankle was broken by Lampard’s late challenge in a game at Anfield on New Year’s Day 2005. On that occasion, Riley turned a blind eye. This time he erred in opting for the maximum punishment.

To that point, the game had been cagey. Liverpool had been the better team, Petr Cech saving well from Alonso and Albert Riera, but, with John Terry and Alex defending resolutely, they were being kept at arm’s length. The red card changed the complexion. Within minutes, a shot by Alonso had been deflected on to the crossbar by Alex, and Torres, hitherto quiet, saw an effort acrobatically diverted wide by Mikel. As the game entered its final 20 minutes, with Scolari sending on Deco and Didier Drogba in an ill-judged effort to bring more edge to their attacking play, it was clear that Chelsea’s resistance would be put to the test.

The introduction of Yossi Benayoun gave Liverpool the guile that had been missing, but Gerrard engineered the breakthrough. Seizing control of a move going nowhere, he executed a quick exchange of passes with Dirk Kuyt and sent the ball wide to Fabio Aurélio, whose excellent cross was headed in by Torres, the forward darting across Alex to meet the ball first at the near post. Chelsea knew then that the game was up - with José Bosingwa highly fortunate to escape a red card for leaving his studs in Benayoun’s back - but worse was to follow when Ashley Cole was forced into a mistake by Benayoun and Torres made the scoreline 2-0.

BenÍtez looked delighted afterwards, having gambled on leaving Keane out of the squad again. Tottenham Hotspur have been in touch with Liverpool about taking the forward back to White Hart Lane and it is feasible, though not probable, that a deal could be done before the transfer window closes at 5pm today.

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): J M Reina 6 Á Arbeloa 7 J Carragher 7 M Skrtel 7 F Aurélio 7 J Mascherano 6 X Alonso 7 D Kuyt 6 S Gerrard 7 A Riera 5 F Torres 8 Substitutes: Y Benayoun 7 (for Riera, 74min), R Babel (for Mascherano, 83), D Ngog (for Torres, 90+5). Not used: D Cavalieri, A Dossena, D Agger, Lucas Leiva. Next: Portsmouth (a).

Chelsea (4-1-4-1): P Cech 6 J Bosingwa 5 Alex 6 J Terry 7 A Cole 6 J O Mikel 6 S Kalou 5 M Ballack 6 F Lampard 6 F Malouda 3 N Anelka 4 Substitutes: Deco 3 (for Kalou, 69min), D Drogba 4 (for Anelka, 69), M Stoch (for Kalou, 85). Not used: Hilário, P Ferreira, B Ivanovic, M Mancienne. Next: Hull (h).

Referee M Riley Attendance 44,174

Lampard joins the list of Alonso’s fall guys

Frank Lampard, who broke the ankle of Xabi Alonso in a tackle at Anfield in 2005, is the fifth player to be sent off this season after fouling Liverpool’s Spaniard, even though the Chelsea midfield player clearly made contact with the ball yesterday, as the picture, below, shows.

Seeing red with Alonso

Sept 13: Nemanja Vidic, Manchester United Arm in face, second yellow card

Sept 27: Tim Cahill, Everton Late challenge, straight red

Oct 5: Pablo Zabaleta, Manchester City Two-footed lunge, straight red

Oct 18: Antonio Valencia, Wigan Athletic Foul, second yellow

Yesterday: Lampard, Chelsea High challenge, straight red