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Arsenal continued to rack up the goals as they thrashed a defensively weak Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park. Emmanuel Adebayor grabbed the headlines with a hat trick completed in the second half, with cameos by England hero Theo Walcott and emerging talent Aaron Ramsey. The latter two provided the passes that led to the first and fourth Arsenal goals, with Robin Van Persie providing the opening goal that set Arsenal on their way to their second consecutive win. It will give the younger Gunners an additional boost as they head towards their first Champions League group match this midweek.

For Blackburn Rovers, their manager Paul Ince must be severely disappointed with his players’ performance. Once again, they looked out of their depth at the back, although the front pairing of Roque Santa Cruz and Jason Roberts tried their best but just could not break down their opponents. Ince must find a solution quickly for his team, or their lack of cohesiveness at the back will send them into a desperate battle for survival this season. Their opening day win now looks a distant memory.

Liverpool finally broke their jinx under Manchester United when they beat the defending champions to go top of the table. They can remain there if Chelsea fails to beat Manchester City later today. Meanwhile, it was a win that was achieved under strange circumstances, with Liverpool talismans Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres both missing due to injuries. Gerrard came on later during the match and played his part in securing the much needed win that would surely boost the Anfield players’ confidence this season. They are attempting to win the club its first title for decades and prevent Manchester United from picking up their 18th league title, which would pull them level with Liverpool as the clubs with the most number of league titles.

Manchester United first opened the scoring with Carlos Tevez hammering in a low cross pulled back by Dimitar Berbatov. That was the only contribution by the Red Devils’ new boy before he faded and Alex Ferguson would definitely be speaking to him about not doing his share of running and winning the ball back for the team. At that point, Manchester United looked to be cruising to another win over their hated rivals, as the Liverpool players looked frustrated and deflated.

But an equaliser eventually came, although it was a comedy of errors that led to it. A curving long ball swept in from the right by Liverpool was palmed onto Wes Brown by a flapping Van der Sar and into an open goal. The goal was a long time coming as Liverpool had failed to score against Manchester United for ages. While they did not technically score this time either, it was just reward for their persistent pressure. The match ended with Liverpool having 22 shots, an overwhelming edge over whatever the Red Devils could muster.

The winner finally came as Mascherano ran down the right flank in the second half, before losing the ball as Ryan Giggs came in to cover. The cause looked lost at that point in time, but the little Argentinian harried Giggs to the byline and managed to poke the ball through the Welsh winger’s legs to the excellent Dirk Kuyt. Kuyt then flashed a cross across goal to Ryan Babel, who stubbed the ball into the turf but it still screamed into the net for the winner. The Kop and whole of Anfield exploded in unison as the Liverpool fans celebrated a long awaited win over their greatest rivals.

Regardless of the result between Liverpool and Standard Liege in the UEFA Champions League, what cannot be ignored was the fourth consecutive poor performance by the Anfield club. Not one player could be singled out for being the worst, but neither could you identify someone who actually played well. That was simply how poor Liverpool was. As to our observation of the English Premier League club, the players could not perform under Benitez, and it has been the same story for the past two seasons.

There cannot be any excuses either, as the team is now totally the creation of Benitez. The Spaniard has even spent millions of dollars on many players, but only less than a handful could be considered to have provided any returns. Benitez has too often gone for quantity over quality, and it has failed him time and time again. Benitez has lived on his Champions League wins for too long, and as he has proven himself, he is not the right man for the job any longer.

Key to his unsuitability for the job is his inability to inspire or motivate his players in crunch matches. To anyone who thinks otherwise, the person who has been mostly responsible for pushing the team on in many instances has been Steven Gerrard, and in the past season, Fernando Torres with his goals. Benitez has always sulked on the sidelines when his team underperforms, and against the big teams like Manchester United in the English Premier League, he has rarely been able to pull off an inspiring tactical move, switch or substitution.

Which also brings up the points that he is mainly responsible for not maximising the potential of the players he has bought. Playing them out of position and not making full use of their qualities seems to be Benitez’s favourite pastime at Anfield. It is no wonder that most of them end up being sold after one or two seasons anyway.

So has Benitez overstayed his welcome at the club? The facts and signs seem to indicate clearly so. There is no consistency from his teams, they have always toiled and laboured despite the talents on display, never made any progress from season to season, and always flattered to deceive. Rafael Benitez has exhausted his potential at Liverpool, and it might be time to bid a fond farewell to the man who won the club their last Champions League success, and find someone who might have a better chance of delivering the one silverware that Liverpool wants - the English Premier League title.