ALL the Anfield chatter yesterday concerned a fixture pile up, as if it were a particularly nasty accident on the M62, but for the moment Liverpool appear to be suffering from too little, rather than too much, football.

This was their first league game since October 12th, and since last week's derby match against Everton was called off, because of a waterlogged pitch, they have struggled to rediscover the fluency and imagination with which they destroyed Chelsea and confounded Manchester United, for most of the match, at Old Trafford.

Their victory over Derby, who are fifth from bottom after taking just two points from five games, lifts them to third position in the Premiership with a game in hand, but it was achieved with a performance that is unlikely to create excessive panic at Newcastle or Manchester United, their most likely championship rivals.

Indeed, until Robbie Fowler's double strike early in the second half, and remembering their listless, midweek League Cup performance, when they were roundly outplayed by Charlton, there was some suggestion that the club was about to be overcome by the sort of torpor that seized them at about this time last season: they won a single point in all of November.

Derby, scoring at a little under a goal a game, are likely to struggle for Premiership survival, especially without their injured forward Dean Sturridge. But their rearguard action yesterday was calmly successful for the opening 45 minutes and, towards the end of the half, with a growing sense of restlessness in the Anfield stands, Liverpool increasingly looked to McManaman's ability to run at opponents as a panacea for all ills.

Liverpool made warm, firm promises in the early passages of play when Berger shot powerfully wide and when Matteo, at the centre of defence, developed fast lines of communication with his midfield, and in particular Barnes and Thomas.

Derby, however, with Ward alone up front, absorbed the pressure with some ease and it was not until the dying minutes of the half, when Fowler drew a fine save from Hoult and, from the rebound, McManaman fired across the face of the goal and hit the far post, that they looked in real danger of conceding a goal.

Liverpool knew it would be a substantially different game once they had scored and they did not have long to wait in the second half. In the 47th minute Berger's left foot once again proved a potent force. Hoult could not hold the shot and Fowler gleefully converted the rebound.

Four minutes later Fowler scored again with an exceptional header. Barnes rolled the ball to Scales on the right and his deep centre found the Liverpool forward timing his run and leaping challenge to perfection to defeat both Rowett and McGrath. It was his fourth goal in three games since returning from an ankle injury. "I'm not 100 per cent yet but I'll be all right after a few more games," he said with a mischievous half smile.

Roy Evans, the Liverpool manager, said: "The name of the game is patience and we showed some patience and some maturity today. Derby came here to make it difficult for us and they did it quite well. We just kept it simple and played sensible football for 75 minutes. The only disappointment was that we had to bite our nails after they pulled a goal back near the end."

Derby's Jim Smith admitted that his team had been a little too negative at times. "We were always aiming to keep it tight. And it worked really well. But we didn't do enough with the ball when we had it. We seemed happy enough to defend when we could have had more of a go at them.

"Once we got one goal I felt we could have had another. But it's not going to be easy in the Premiership and we miss Dean. I would say Liverpool are just about the best side we've played. Whoever finishes above them will be champions. It, was a great header by Fowler."

Derby's goal came in the 88th minute, when Ward scored at the second attempt after James had parried the first, close range shot. It was Derby's first League goal at Anfield since October 1975. The scorer then was somebody called Francis Lee, whatever happened to him.