Goals by Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard ensured Liverpool's title surge gathered momentum as Rafa Benitez's side recorded a hard-fought 2-0 win at Bolton on Saturday.
Kuyt's seventh goal of the season set his team on the way before Gerrard struck after half-time to send Liverpool three points clear at the top of the Premier League
table - if only for a few hours.
Benitez surprisingly left star striker Fernando Torres out of his starting line-up, three days after the Spain striker had made his first start for five weeks during the League Cup defeat at Tottenham.
The prospect of Torres being omitted seemed unthinkable not long ago.
But the belief oozing through Benitez's side is such that the manager can afford to leave him out, especially as he believes the Spain striker is still three weeks from returning to peak form after recent hamstring problems.
Yet Torres still managed to play a key role in the win as he provided the cross for Gerrard to score after climbing off the substitutes bench.
But Liverpool would have won by a more handsome margin had the lively Kuyt not been denied by the crossbar while Gerrard and Robbie Keane were both guilty of glaring misses.
Liverpool's second goal arrived in the 72nd minute, Torres producing a superb cross for Gerrard to glance a header past Jaaskelainen.
The Bolton keeper then made fine saves to deny the lively Torres and Alonso as Liverpool finished strongly.
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