IGNORING THE OBVIOUS ANALOGY between Peter Crouch’s goals and London buses, a more relevant goalscoring statistic emerged from Liverpool’s clinically emphatic demolition of Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

Crouch may have ended his barren run of goalscoring at 24 hours and eight minutes — or possibly 24½ hours, depending on the validity of his opening goal — but the more interesting fact lies at the other end of the field, where Liverpool’s defence has now kept eight consecutive clean sheets — 12 hours and 24 minutes since they last conceded.

That is not to belittle the King Kong-sized monkey that Crouch finally shrugged off his considerable frame with his one, or two, goals on Saturday, but so intense had the gaze been upon his lack of production that, almost unnoticed, Liverpool have transformed themselves into potential Premiership runners-up. Indeed, after seven victories and a draw in that eight-game spell, for those neutrals desperate for some interest and challenge to Chelsea’s march to the title, Liverpool could be the best hope.

“I would like to think we could maybe sneak the title on this kind of form,” Crouch said. “We are winning and if we keep doing that we can put some pressure on them and hopefully that will be the case. The gap (to Chelsea) is 12 points now, but the way we have been playing, not conceding goals and looking a threat, there is no reason at all why we can’t put pressure on them.”

They can start tomorrow, when they visit Stamford Bridge for the final Champions League group game, a meeting in which there is more at stake than determining the pool winners. The psychological effect of a Liverpool victory may prove hugely significant in the second half of the season.

“People say that it doesn’t matter if we don’t finish top (of the group), but it does,” Crouch said. “There is pride at stake and we would love to finish above Chelsea. Every team you can get in the knockout stages are going to be difficult but if you finish first you give yourself an advantage.” Still, whatever the future holds for Crouch and his team, the first Saturday in December will long be remembered for providing the end to his astonishing goalless run that dated back 22 games, to the final day of last season.

After 19 minutes, Crouch neatly controlled the ball just inside his own half and, with defenders backing off, advanced to the edge of the Wigan area, where his shot took a high, looping deflection off Leighton Baines and was meekly helped into the net by Mike Pollitt, who has been credited with an own goal, an adjudication that Crouch and Liverpool will dispute with the FA Premier League today.

There was nothing fortunate about Crouch’s goal in the 42nd minute, when he gathered Steve Finnan’s long pass in the inside right channel and lobbed the ball over Pollitt with the deftest of touches. On both occasions the reaction from team-mates and crowd alike underlined how popular and appreciated Crouch has become in his short time at the club.

“Without a doubt, I cannot speak highly enough of the fans,” Crouch said. “They were willing me to score and this is a goal not just for me and the team but for them as well.”

Luis García chested in a header by Fernando Morientes in the 70th minute to complete a rout that left Paul Jewell, the Wigan manager, bemused and disappointed.

“We normally have plenty of desire, we dig in, but we just accepted it today,” Jewell, a former Liverpool junior, said. “We are on the slide. We’ve lost three on the bounce. But we’ve got 25 points and a lot of teams would like to swap places with us.”