That the only goal of the game came from a set-piece served only to rub salt into Everton’s gaping wound. And it won’t be lost on Benitez, for whom dead-ball situations have been one of the many sticks critics have used to beat him with this season.

Perhaps Everton were lulled into a false sense of security by the red card for Kyrgiakos. After all, the visitors had already more than held their own before being firmly handed the initiative by their numerical advantage.

But whatever questions Moyes’s side posed, Liverpool had the answer. Even with the welcome sight of Mikel Arteta pulling the strings from central midfield, Everton lacked the guile and imagination to break down the massed red ranks, Louis Saha given scant service with too many long balls easily dealt with by the home defence.

Everton didn’t come any nearer than in first-half injury time when, in attempting to clear Donovan’s clipped cross, Javier Mascherano sent the ball straight to the unmarked Tim Cahill who headed over from eight yards.

It was a chance the Australian would normally have taken. Cahill has been Everton’s derby talisman in recent years, but in a game of many turning points, his miss was maybe the most telling, particularly when Liverpool forged ahead on 55 minutes.

A flurry of corners ended with Steven Gerrard curling a devastating delivery from the left into the six-yard box where Dirk Kuyt somehow squeezed between the attentions of Tim Howard and Phil Neville to glance the ball home.

His fourth goal in as many games – and 50th for Liverpool – the Dutchman has answered the goalscoring call in the absence of Torres, and his tenacity set the required standard for his team-mates to follow.

Gerrard had earlier struck the crossbar with a free-kick, but Liverpool were forced on to the defensive when Kyrgiakos, an unlikely hero in recent weeks, turned villain.

The centre-back could have no complaints with his dismissal for a two-footed lunge on Marouane Fellaini that put the Belgian on a stretcher en route to hospital, although replays suggested the Everton man was fortunate not to also see red for his stamp on the Greek defender as they contested a 50-50 ball.

And Moyes later admitted the visitors should have already been down to 10 men when Steven Pienaar was only booked for a nasty lunge on Mascherano, the South African eventually earning a second yellow in injury time for a soft foul on Gerrard.

So much for Liverpool in crisis. Benitez’s side have now taken 17 points from 21, an unbeaten spell of seven Premier League games in which they have kept six clean sheets.

Before the game, Benitez accepted this was a game Liverpool had to win. They did. Moyes, however, will know it is one Everton should have.