What price Liverpool ending their 18-year championship drought now? The last time they had 10 points safely secured after four games they managed to finish only seventh in the 1998-99 season but the squad assembled by Rafael Benitez appears to be made of sturdier stuff. From start to finish, this was a dominant display, inspired by Xabi Alonso’s midfield generalship, Jermaine Pennant’s prodigious work on the wings, stellar finishing by Fernando Torres and a workrate and ambition that glowed throughout the team and was a sight to behold. Liverpool, in short, were magnificent. Derby, admittedly, were not. Blown aside from the outset, it was evident why the Rams are favourites to return from whence they came. They were overrun in midfield and engulfed in defence and might have suffered an even heavier defeat. But the class and strength in depth of this Liverpool team is apparent, too, and supporters are justifiably beginning to dream that the long wait could be about to end. Top and bottom of the Premiership were separated by an ominous distance.

Robert Malcolm, playing as a sweeper, was made to work hard as Liverpool attacked with pace and width and Pennant created a dangerous early heading opportunity for Torres with a delightful cross from the right which the Spanish striker directed too close to Stephen Bywater, the Derby goalkeeper. Malcolm did manage to close in on Daniel Agger and deflect a 30-yard shot by the Liverpool defender, which Bywater tipped the far side of his left post.

Momentarily, Stephen Pearson manufactured a break from midfield, surging down the left flank with no one between himself and Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina. Rather than take responsibility, he cut the ball back for Matt Oakley when he should have shot and Agger was able to clear the danger. It proved a rare respite for the visitors.

Liverpool did not miss the injured duo of Jamie Carragher in defence or Steven Gerrard’s leadership or dynamism in midfield. Their control was almost absolute.

Pako Ayestaran, Benitez’s friend and assistant for 11 years, who quit Anfield this week having been linked with a return to his native Spain, was an even more academic absentee as Benitez made Pennant and Ryan Babel switch flanks and the demands on Derby grew.

A loose clearance by Bywater was intercepted by Alonso but the Spaniard dragged his shot from 25 yards wide. Dirk Kuyt shot over from almost 30 yards moments later and Javier Mascherano missed another effort but Derby were being squeezed methodically into a fatal mistake. It arrived on 27 minutes when Tyrone Mears brought down Pennant and Alonso’s free kick from 35 yards slipped inside the left post of Bywater, who may have been undone by Kuyt’s clever run into the middle from the back post. Pennant continued to be a scourge for Billy Davies’s side, drifting in from wide on the left to cross deftly for Kuyt, whose header narrowly cleared the crossbar. The two combined again after an incisive one-two between Pennant and Mascherano and Kuyt volleyed over. Torres also missed a volley before Liverpool increased their lead just before the interval with a stunning goal. The passing was precise and magnificent as Alvaro Arbeloa on the left picked out Babel in the middle.

Slipping past Claude Davis and Andy Griffin, Babel finished superbly with a powerful shot past Bywater and inside the right post. Liverpool’s Premier League goals so far this season have arrived from a variety of sources, a pattern which satisfied Benitez. “We have to be pleased with our progress so far this season,” he said. “I would like to have two more points but we have made a very good start compared to the last few years. It is also important we have had a variety of goalscorers this season. If a team has a top scorer who gets 20-plus goals each year, it is often easier for the opposition’s defence to focus solely on him.”

Derby’s focus, tested early in the second half, was found wanting again when crisp, intricate passing on the edge of the penalty area between Arbeloa, Torres and Kuyt yielded a clear scoring chance for Alonso, who somehow contrived to shoot over from almost point-blank range. Having failed to score on their travels so far this season, Derby had an increasingly doomed and dishevelled look and further wounding was inevitable with Liverpool in such command.

Mascherano made a decisive tackle, punishing more hesitancy in the Derby defence, to set up Torres on the edge of the penalty area. El Nino still had plenty to do but, naturally, he was equal to the challenge, gliding past Davis and Andy Todd before despatching his low shot beyond Bywater.

Derby were in disarray by this stage and Liverpool showed them not a semblance of mercy. Babel soared down the right flank to the byline once more and cut the ball back towards substitute Yossi Benayoun. Derby substitute James McEveley managed to cut out the pass but Alonso, unmarked on the edge of the penalty area, drilled his shot into the bottom left corner for his second goal of the game and Liverpool’s fourth. A fifth came quickly when a penetrating run by Kuyt culminated in a shot that Bywater parried straight into the path of substitute Andriy Voronin, who might have scored with his eyes closed.

Mears managed to make a piercing run down the right before whipping in a cross that Steve Howard headed wide and a long-range shot by Pearson forced Reina to make a sharp dive to his right to save inside the post.

The closest Derby came to hitting back was through Craig Fagan, but the midfielder miskicked from close range. It was left to Torres to show Derby how it should be done as he pounced on and intercepted a poor back pass by Todd and swept past Bywater before sidefooting the ball into the empty net.

Star man: Xabi Alonso (Liverpool)

Player ratings: Liverpool: Reina 7, Finnan 7, Hyypia 7, Agger 7, Arbeloa 7, Pennant 9 (Benayoun 61min), Alonso 9, Mascherano 8 (Sissoko 77min), Babel 7 (Voronin 73min), Kuyt 7, Torres 9

Derby: Bywater 3, Mears 4, Todd 3, Davis 3, Griffin 4 (Moore 80min), Malcolm 4 (Teale 59min, 4), Fagan 3, Oakley 4, Pearson 5, Camara 4 (McEveley 63min), Howard 3