South American delight as Liverpool move up to 5th

Liverpool celebrate Maxi's second

Liverpool move up into 5th spot after a wonderful performance against an in form Fulham side at Craven Cottage. A hat-trick from Maxi Rodriquez and some memorizing play from Luis Suarez carried Liverpool to a 5-2 victory.

Maxi just can not stop scoring in recent weeks as everything he hits finds the back of the net. He netted his second hat-trick in 3 games to give Liverpool the result they needed. It wasn't long until the Argentinian found himself on the score sheet as his first minute strike found the back of the net after some mediocre defending by Fulham. Suarez's strike was deflected and Mark Schwarzer scrambled to clear but it fell straight to Maxi's feet as he made no mistake with the finish.

Liverpool were fantastic in the opening minutes of the game as they continually pressured Fulham into mistakes. Just six minutes after Maxi's first, he doubled his tally when a cross was stood up to the back post and Maxi lost his defender as his left footed volley flew past the keeper to give Liverpool a dream start.

Fulham's terrible start continued as a howler from Schwarzer gifted Liverpool their third goal. Dirk Kuyt's shot from the edge of the box rolled under the keeper as Kuyt ran off celebrating his 5th goal in as many games.

Maxi scoring the opening goal

Fulham did start brightly in the second half and put Liverpool under pressure. They found themselves back in the game when Dembele's effort went in on the 57th minute. Fulham continued to pile on the pressure as they went looking for another but it was Liverpool who scored next when Maxi rounded off his hat-trick with a great 20-yard strike. The goal left Fulham depleted and ended the game as a contest.

The scoring wasn't over though as Luis Suarez scored a well deserved goal for his man of the match performance.  Suarez was played in on goal from a great through ball from Johnjo Shelvey and the Uruguayan finished with great composure as he rounded Schwarzer and tapped the ball across the line. However, the goal of the match was Steve Sidwell's late consolation goal when his half volley flew into Pepe Reina's goal from 25-yards out.

Luis Suarez was undoubtedly the man of the match and his performance was so immense that he beat out hat-trick hero Maxi Rodriguez. Suarez never stopped running as he continued to run at defenders and make them uncomfortable time and time again.

After the match, Kenny said Suarez is playing beyond the clubs wildest dreams,

"He was fantastic. He was running as hard at the end as he was at the beginning. He was causing them all sorts of problems."

"He's really settled in and that's a credit to him and his family. They've settled into the area, settled into the football and I don't think in our wildest dreams we thought he'd settle in so quickly and take to English football like he has done."

Liverpool will now look to this weekend as they take on Tottenham at Anfield. The winner looks likely to take 5th spot but with Manchester City losing this weekend both clubs still have a chance at the final Champions League place. It's unlikely but then again, this is football, and anything can happen.