THE Hillsborough anniversary week is always a necessarily difficult one at Anfield. On Wednesday, exactly 20 years after that awful afternoon, there will be a memorial service at the ground attended by players and supporters.

Before then, though, there is much to do and much to focus upon. On Tuesday Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge and will attempt to undo the shoddy defensive work that all but ended their Champions League campaign last week.

First — and possibly foremost for a Kop desperate for domestic bliss — Blackburn Rovers were dispatched without the need to break sweat. Yossi Benayoun’s stoppage-time heroics at Craven Cottage last week had given Liverpool concrete hope that their Old Trafford rivals are there for the overtaking. Yesterday’s stroll kept the pot bubbling nicely.

“This takes the pressure off,” smiled Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager. “And keeps it on Manchester United. I know Alex Ferguson is nervous because he’s been talking a lot. We were in control throughout and it was just a case of not making mistakes.”

Jamie Carragher, a man not usually given to over-egging a pudding, described yesterday’s meeting with precariously placed Blackburn — whose captain, Liverpool old boy Stephen Warnock, laid a wreath at the foot of The Kop before kick-off — as the most important league game of his career. It may not have been that, but it was certainly among the most straightforward against a team bereft not only of strikers, but of hope, ideas and grit.

So, Rovers arrived in the sort of disarray that vindicated Benitez’s decision to rest Steven Gerrard, whose troublesome groin means he will be deployed sparingly until the summer. He certainly wasn’t needed yesterday. Even without the injured Morten Gamst Pedersen, El-Hadji Diouf, Jason Roberts and Roque Santa Cruz, Sam Allardyce could not bring himself to start with Benni McCarthy, preferring instead the centre-half Christopher Samba as sole striker after the Blackburn manager had noted the damage Didier Drogba had caused the Liverpool rearguard on Wednesday. Samba toiled willingly but the Congo international is patently no Drogba.

“I’m very disappointed in our performance,” admitted Allardyce. “We didn’t compete and the one area we thought we might be better than them was knock-downs, but they won every one. However, if we’d had our top players we wouldn’t have lost 4-0.”

The swathes of empty seats in the away section suggested Blackburn’s fans had anticipated the worst and within five minutes the fears of those who did travel were made flesh. Carragher hoofed a long ball forward, Fernando Torres caught it on his chest, nipped between Andre Ooijer and Ryan Nelsen, swivelled and volleyed a glorious opener past Paul Robinson.

Soon after with Albert Riera and the overlapping Emiliano Insua giving makeshift full-back Keith Andrews a lunchtime of despair, only Robinson’s brilliance kept the score, if not the balance of play, respectable. First, he saved bravely from Javier Mascherano and then athletically kept out Dirk Kuyt’s point-blank header after Insua’s cross.

Rovers’ fortune was built on quicksand and soon they were sinking deeper. Andrews gave away a foolish free kick, Xabi Alonso curled it in from the left and Torres rose above Samba to head home.

After that, Allardyce gave a debut to 17-year-old Irish midfielder Aaron Doran and switched to 4-5-1, but Rovers remained craven and Liverpool had an hour to stroll home. The second half was exhibition fare. Benayoun tormented Gael Givet, while, with no defensive duties required, Mascherano ran the midfield with Gerrard-esque authority and The Kop chanted “Justice for the 96”.

Once chances were spurned by Benayoun and, more culpably, Kuyt, the paucity of the opposition ensured Liverpool’s collective mind wandered and they began to misplace passes. After 77 minutes, Jose Antonio Reina was finally forced into a save when he dived to collect Samba’s gentle daisycutter. There was still time for the scoreline to acquire a more accurate hue. With seven minutes remaining, Daniel Agger ambled forwards, Rovers backed off and the Dane whacked home from 25 yards.

In the last seconds of normal time, Liverpool further enhanced their goal difference when Carragher crossed deep. Lucas Leiva headed across goal and David Ngog nodded home. Even at 4-0, Blackburn could consider themselves to have escaped lightly.

LIVERPOOL: Reina 6, Arbeloa 6, Agger 6, Carragher 6, Insua 8, Alonso 6 (Lucas 87min), Mascherano 7, Riera 6, Benayoun 7, Kuyt 6 (Ngog 85min), Torres 7 (El Zhar 74min)

BLACKBURN: Robinson 7, Andrews 4, Ooijer 5, Nelsen 5, Givet 4, Mokoena 4 (Doran h-t), Tugay 5 (Grella 67min), Warnock 5, Dunn 5 (Villanueva 60min), Treacy 4, Samba 5