Given the response to the challenge laid down earlier by Manchester United and Chelsea, the vote of confidence in Rafael Benitez's leaders was as credible as it was audible.
Anxiety was again in the air among supporters who crave little else but Liverpool's first league title since 1990, although only in their reaction to news of Carlos Tevez's late winner for United at Stoke City. It seeped no further and, with maximum effort and a minimum of fuss, Liverpool contemptuously brushed off Bolton Wanderers to ensure they remain in pole position at the turn.
By the finale, with Benitez's players toying with demoralised opponents and 42 points secured at the halfway stage, the season's opening rendition of "Liverpool; top of the league" was a message of defiance and not a statement of the obvious.
Such was the comfort with which Liverpool consolidated top place, however, that expectations will rise. Especially with Fernando Torres edging ever closer to a return from hamstring trouble.
