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The Associated Press
Fernando Torres endured a miserable debut for Chelsea on Sunday after losing 1-0 to former club Liverpool, which lost its star striker to the defending Premier League champions six days earlier.

Chelsea’s 50-million-pound ($80 million) recruit managed only two shots before being substituted in the 65th minute at Stamford Bridge.

Within four minutes of the Spain striker leaving the pitch, Raul Meireles hit his fourth goal in five games to complete Liverpool’s double over Chelsea this season and give the club a fourth straight league win without having conceded a single goal.
Gerrard’s cross from the right was missed by goalkeeper Petr Cech and Branislav Ivanovic, who had collided and had an angry exchange in the first half, and the ball reached the far post where Meireles hooked the ball into the net.

“We are quite on a roll at the moment and are enjoying it,” Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish said. “I didn’t see our goalkeeper having too much to do and our defense was magnificent in front of him. I don’t think any of their forwards will be too happy about the game they had.”

In Sunday’s other match, Birmingham climbed out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 victory over bottom-place West Ham.

Battling relegation a month ago, Liverpool is now six points behind Chelsea, which occupies the final Champions League spot.

The fourth-place London club remains 10 points behind leader Manchester United, which lost for the first time this season after going down 1-0 at Wolverhampton on Saturday to lead second-place Arsenal by four points.

It was Chelsea’s 2-0 loss at Anfield in November that started the slump in which the team surrendered top spot and ultimately forced owner Roman Abramovich to sign Torres, the scorer of those goals, as part of a $115 million deadline-day spending spree.

The Spanish World Cup winner started Sunday alongside Didier Drogba, with Nicolas Anelka sitting behind his fellow forwards.

In front of the Liverpool fans who unfurled banners taunting Torres before kickoff, he had a sight of Pepe Reina’s goal after only 90 seconds.

But after receiving former teammate Maxi Rodriguez’s wayward pass, Torres’ shot had power but lacked precision, the ball floating well over the crossbar. The visiting support responded by throwing their Liverpool shirts bearing No. 9 Torres on to the pitch.

There was little for them to jeer, however, as Torres was largely anonymous and had to wait another 30 minutes for another opening to be created for him by Didier Drogba. The resulting shot was blocked by Jamie Carragher’s intervention.

“We have to give Fernando time to adjust to the shape (of the team),” Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said. “The problem wasn’t that Torres played … we had difficulty finding enough space in front because Liverpool defended very well. They put three defenders in the middle, and we didn’t find the right way to attack them …

“We have to work in training to combine with the other strikers, but that’s normal.”

Keeping Chelsea in the game was a glaring miss from Maxi, who was unmarked at the far post in meeting Steven Gerrard’s low cross in front of an unprotected net, but only managed to hit the ball against the bar.