Liverpool 2 - 0 Sunderland

Remember what I said about how Liverpool needed Xabi Alonso back in the lineup? Yeah. The went from grinding out a 0-0 draw against Real Betis and a 1-0 win over Man City to a flowing, decisive victory here -- albeit against an inferior opponent in Sunderland -- with Alonso creating both goals. And don't tell me that pass to Luis Garcia for the first goal was a lucky fluke. He may not have known that Garcia would be right there, but he knew he had a teammate up there who was going to run onto it if he played the ball forward. Xabi's too smart to just hoof it up and hope. (And I'm not saying that just because I have a wee bit of a crush on him.)