West Ham 2-3 Liverpool
Liverpool brought home the bacon of a well-deserved three points , but of course - it wasn't simple.
Joe Cole speaking after the game.
With Luis Suarez ruled out for breaching the 5 yellow card ruling, Jonjo Shelvey was given the nod to be the reds front man against his boyhood club.
Stewart Downing was also preferred ahead of youngster Suso to occupy the right side of the forward line.
Liverpool started brightly, controlling the action in the opening 20 minutes, with Lucas a pivotal fulcrum of the side, and Glen Johnson marauding down the wing often without assistance from a lacklustre Downing.
11 minutes in and Liverpool got the opening goal. A fine pass from Gerrard found Johnson, who twisted infield before unleashing a right footed shot which smashed in to the top corner. Advantage Liverpool.
A similar move moments later saw Johnson again get the better of Matt Jarvis before teeing up Sterling - but Raheem's shot went wide.
Liverpool then had to make a change - Jose Enrique going off, Stewart Downing moving to left back and Joe Cole coming on against his former club.
The change unbalanced Liverpool and West Ham went on the attack, primarily through the excellent Diame.
In the 35th minute a clearance fell to Demel who unleashed a ferocious shot. It hit Joe Allen's arm two yards away and the referee harshly awarded a penalty to the home side.
Noble slotted the penalty in to the bottom left hand corner.
This wasn't to be the end of Liverpool's misfortune. As the half ebbed away, a cross sent in to the Liverpool box saw Gerrard make a hash of a headed clearance and he sent the header past Pepe Reina to give West Ham a fortunate half time lead.
Fortunately West Ham didn't turn up for the second half, and Liverpool patiently and methodically waited for their chance to get back in to the game.
Sterling laid on the pass and Joe Cole took his goal well - cooly beating the keeper as the ball squeezed inside the post.
His celebrations were muted - but the travelling Liverpool support sensed all three points.
Three minutes later Jordan Henderson's cross was sent over to Shelvey. Collins lunged in to stop Shelvey getting the touch but appeared to get the last touch to put the ball in his own net.
Liverpool saw out the game with relative ease to take a well deserved 3 points and move back in to the top half - 4 points from 4th place, with their 3rd consecutive win in all competitions.