English FA Premiership/ Liverpool 3 Wigan Athletic 0: The Dubious Goals Panel will determine whether Peter Crouch has registered his first double for Liverpool or merely lobbed his way off the mark, but, already, priorities have been refocused in these parts.
Where the onus had been on breaking the forward's duck, attention has turned to Chelsea. "We're in the kind of form to put pressure on them," said the England man. "We're not conceding, we're looking a threat, there's no reason why we can't."
Crouch was honing in, not on tomorrow's Champions League fixture at Stamford Bridge, but the possibility of Liverpool bridging the 12-point chasm from the Premiership leaders.
Logic suggests the Dubious Expectations Panel might have to be convened, but, while such rhetoric is bold from a £7 million striker who only gleaned his first reward for his new club on this, his 19th appearance, such is the optimism swelling inside Anfield these days.
In subjecting Wigan to a first Premiership spanking, Rafael Benitez's side stretched their winning league streak to six matches and their impregnability at the back in all competitions to 744 minutes.
The European champions have a game in hand on the leaders and travel to London aiming to inflict psychological scars by winning their qualifying group. "There is pride at stake and we would love to finish above Chelsea," said Crouch. Any means of proving the Londoners are far from invincible must be seized upon.
Perhaps it was inevitable Crouch's first goal as a Liverpool player would come laced with farce. The striker chested a loose ball down on the centre spot in the 19th minute and trundled forward, his shot deflecting up off Arjan de Zeeuw and palmed inexplicably into his own net by Mike Pollitt. Crouch skipped the length of the Centenary Stand, Jamie Carragher swinging from his neck, before standing arms aloft in front of the Kop.
Those present were still deliberating whether a goal deflected from two opponents before trickling in could be awarded to the striker when Crouch danced beyond a ragged back line on to Steve Finnan's punt to chip in a second that was unarguably his before the interval.
"I really, really wanted it," admitted the forward. "People around Liverpool have been great throughout it all. Others have their own opinions, but maybe they are not watching the amount of games our fans do. An awful lot of people have kept me going. It's much easier when the people who matter believe in you, but I also believe in myself."
Wigan were busy enough, but never recovered from a sloppy start. Their remarkable progress this season has been built on unswerving conviction in their own ability, yet too often here they winced at Liverpool's early thrusts and, once Crouch had been rewarded, their revival was only ever fleeting.
Luis Garcia, chesting in Fernando Morientes' header, added a third, though it took Pollitt's smart reactions, denying Morientes and the relentless Steven Gerrard, to stave off a rout.
"I haven't been as disappointed as that for a long time," growled Paul Jewell. "We normally have plenty of desire, we dig in, but we just accepted it today."
Today, Jewell will wait anxiously on the results of a scan on De Zeeuw's knee before Saturday's trip to Chelsea, with Manchester United to follow, though Wigan's priority remains survival.
Some 15 points are needed to reach the magical 40-point mark and Jewell will not be too dismayed by a third successive defeat, despite admitting results suggest his side are "on the slide".
Wigan will come again; Liverpool are suggesting they are already doing just that.
* Guardian Service
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