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Two goals from Fernando Torres and one from Raul Meireles, of which the vintage Liverpool would have been proud, gave the messiah they call Kenny Dalglish his first win of the second coming.

Wolves’s victory at Anfield in December put one of the nails in Roy Hodgson’s managerial coffin, but any hopes they nurtured of a home and away double were stone dead by the 50th minute, when Meireles volleyed a spectacular second goal into Wayne Hennessey’s top-left corner from 25 yards.

In search of a clean sheet, which has become a Liverpool rarity, Dalglish overlooked Joe Cole in favour of a defensive midfielder Christian Poulsen, eschewing 4–4–2 in favour of a 4–2–3–1 formation.

Wolves arrived in buoyant mood after beating Chelsea the last time they played at home in the league and drubbing Doncaster 5-0 in the FA Cup in midweek, but they never threatened to scale those heights, and had the look of relegation candidates throughout.

Liverpool’s nerves were evident when José Reina put successive goalkicks out of play, but they fashioned nearly all the chances, and had their reward after 36 minutes when, with Wolves appealing for offside, Meireles squared the ball in from the right for Torres to beat Hennessey from six yards. The offside claim was invalid, Zubar playing the move onside.

Wolves’ first decent goal attempt was delayed until the 39th minute, when Reina flew to his left to deny Doyle. If they hoped it would spark an improvement, they were wrong. Five minutes into the second half Meireles scored his “worldy”, as the players call such classy gems, and that was that as far as the points were concerned.

Wolves huffed and puffed and Steven Fletcher tested Reina from distance, but it was Liverpool who scored again in the 90th minute, when Torres, set up by Dirk Kuyt, thumped the ball home from six yards.

Premier LeagueWolverhampton WanderersLiverpoolKenny DalglishJoe Lovejoyguardian.co.uk

Today’s fluff still loves Shine 97

It’s Monday morning at 5.19, and the Mill is still wondering where you’ve been. Because every time we try to call, we just get your machine. And now it’s almost 6am, and we don’t want to try again. Because if you’re still not back, heaven knows, what then? Maybe we can distract ourselves with some tittle-tattle (and try to forget the fact that a) the Mill was struggling so badly for a riff this morning that we resorted to simply typing the lyrics of Rialto’s 1997 hit Monday Morning 5:19 and b) that we didn’t need to look the lyrics up).

Manchester United and Everton are battling it out to sign Bob Schepers, who sounds like he should be presenting a documentary about farming on Radio 4, but is in fact a 17-year-old Dutch winger for SC Cambuur. He played in Holland U17’s run to the European Championship final, and is also making a small blipping noise “on Ajax’s radar”.

Chelsea have £50m to spend this summer and it’ll all go on Kaká. Or Fernando Torres. Or Sergio Agüero. Or Bastian Schweinsteiger. Or possibly Dani Alves, who has also been linked with Manchester City in the Spanish newspaper Sport.

Liverpool have dipped for the line and pipped Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal in the race for Charlton’s Jonjo Shelvey. As Rafa Benítez waves to the crowd from the top of the podium, a faceless man in a suit hands him a bunch of flowers and drapes the £3m-rated teenage utility man around the Liverpool manager’s neck.

And to complete the contractually-obliged big four round-up, Arsenal were rather laughably linked with a move for Pepe Reina over the weekend.

Elsewhere, West Brom will bolster their Premier League survival bid next season by signing two players who failed to keep their teams up in this campaign. Hull’s Jimmy Bullard and Burnley’s Steven Fletcher are the smart buys.

Steve Coppell wants to turn the 2010-11 Bristol City side into the 2007-08 Reading team. The signings of Dave Kitson, Ivar Ingimarsson and James Harper will be the easy part. Bringing in blue and white hoops might be a little trickier.

It’s Everton v Blackburn for Getafe’s £10m-rated striker Roberto Soldado.

Wigan will move for Celtic’s Marc Crosas over the summer and will subtly attempt to placate sceptical Latics fans by continually describing him as “a former Barcelona and Lyon midfielder” on the club website.

And Paris St-Germain have a hankering for dynamic but erratic full-backs and will satisfy their hunger by snapping up West Ham’s Henry Ilunga and Portsmouth’s Nadir Belhadj.

LiverpoolArsenalCharlton AthleticChelseaManchester UnitedEvertonJohn Ashdownguardian.co.uk

The relegation which has been Burnley’s destiny since Owen Coyle left in January was finally confirmed today when Steven Gerrard scored twice in the space of seven second-half minutes to keep alive Liverpool’s hopes of Champions League qualification.

If Gerrard’s first was something of a fluke (the shot took a big deflection), the second was more typical, thrashed past Brian Jensen’s left hand from 25 yards. Liverpool’s third took the form of a smart finish by Maxi Rodriguez and the fourth came in added time, from Ryan Babel.

The rain pelted down shortly before kick-off – the sky crying in sympathy with Burnley’s plight and driving off the cricketers on the pitch next door, where England’s Jimmy Anderson learned his trade. These things are relative, and it has been a poor season for Liverpool, too, but still the scouse loyalists pledge vocal loyalty to the manager, Rafael Benítez, who continues to be linked with Juventus.

With Fernando Torres and David Ngog both injured, Dirk Kuyt reverted to the role in which he was originally signed, as principal striker. He was found wanting there a long time ago, and was once again here.

The standard of play rarely rose above the prosaic, and the first goal attempt of any consequence was delayed until the 27th minute, when an inviting right wing cross from Martin Paterson was wasted by Steven Fletcher heading over from a central position, seven yards out. Jack Cork at least demanded a save with another header from similar distance.

The worst miss of all saw Fletcher, on the edge of the six-yard box, horribly culpable again when he failed to make contact with Cork’s cross from the left. Profligacy with such chances has been the story of Burnley’s season.

Gerrard responded with a shot from near the penalty spot which lacked the accuracy to inconvenience “The Beast” Jensen, the goalkeeper who has made more saves than any other in the Premier League. But when the same protagonists were in action again, seven minutes into the second half, poor Jensen had no chance with a shot from the 18-yards line which took a cruel deflection off Leon Cort.

He had no chance again after 52 minutes, but this time due to Gerrard’s scorching accuracy. Fletcher shot against Pepe Reina’s left-hand upright after 72 minutes, but Liverpool had the last word, through Rodriguez and Babel. Burnley return whence they came last summer, Liverpool play Chelsea next Sunday and need to raise their game if they are to finish fourth.

Premier LeagueBurnleyLiverpoolJoe Lovejoyguardian.co.uk