Liverpool striker Fernando Torres scored a brilliant hat-trick to blow away Hull City at Anfield.
The Spain striker scored twice in the first half either side of Geovanni's equaliser and added a third soon after the interval.
Captain Steven Gerrard scored a fourth just before the hour and
substitute Ryan Babel added two late goals as Liverpool made it four
league wins - including 16 goals - in succession.
But the day belonged to Torres, who took his tally for the season to
eight in seven matches and an incredible 33 in 34 matches at Anfield.
This was also his fourth Liverpool hat-trick and the third he has scored in the Barclays Premier League.
The writing was on the wall for Hull, who have not won in their last
nine away matches, from the 11th minute when Liverpool took the lead
with a neat passing move and a clinical finish from Torres.
Dirk Kuyt and left-back Emiliano Insua combined to allow Albert
Riera to cross to the near post where Torres shimmied past Ibrahima
Sonko to coolly fire past Boaz Myhill.
penalty area
This season Liverpool have leaked goals through defensive mistakes
and another one cost them just four minutes later when Martin Skrtel's
weak header dropped to Geovanni eight yards out and he volleyed home
the equaliser.
The goal unsettled the home side but Lucas had a good chance in the
23rd minute when he tamely side-footed Insua's cross straight at Myhill
from 15 yards.
But if there is one Liverpool player you can rely on to hit the
target it is Torres and his individual brilliance put his side ahead
again in the 28th minute.
Yossi Benayoun's incisive through-ball picked out the Spaniard's run
into the penalty area but there was still plenty of work to do.
Torres cut back inside, beating Sonko, Myhill and then 18-year-old debutant Liam Cooper to poke home from close range.
Frailties were still apparent at the back, however, and twice Riera
gave the ball away 10 yards outside his own penalty area only to be
saved by Jamie Carragher and poor shooting from Kamil Ghilas.
Two minutes into the second half Torres scored his third, again with an assist from Benayoun.
sent off
He raced into the inside-right channel and, with everyone in the
ground expecting him to shoot right-footed, he turned inside Sonko and
fired through Paul McShane's legs and into the far corner.
Torres continued to terrorise the Hull defence and was only inches
over the crossbar with a looping 58th-minute header from Skrtel's cross
On the hour Gerrard, who had been quiet by his standards, added a
fourth when he curled a shot into the far corner from wide on the left
wing after his original corner had only been half-cleared to Insua.
Hull then seemed to self-destruct with McShane, who had been having
a running disagreement with Riera all afternoon, lucky not to be sent
off after being booked for a clash with Carragher and then appearing to
show dissent to referee Peter Walton.
With a Champions League match away to Fiorentina on Tuesday, Torres
departed to a standing ovation in the 68th minute as he was replaced by
Babel with Gerrard following soon after.
By then the hard work had been done, although Babel had a point to
prove and added a fifth by turning in Kuyt's right-wing cross late on.
The Dutchman scored a fortunate second in injury time when he deflected Riera's shot over Myhill.
But even the former Ajax forward would admit he is not in the class
of Torres, who once again showed how intrinsically linked he is to
Liverpool's ambitions