Chelsea, buoyed by their dramatic Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek, fired an early warning in the sixth minute when Oscar, having initially stolen the ball from Allen, steered a decent opportunity wastefully over from Eden Hazard’s neat pass.

Torres then coaxed a foul from Carragher only for Branislav Ivanovic to smash the free-kick harmlessly over.

And the Spaniard won the corner from which Chelsea went ahead on 20 minutes. From Juan Mata’s right-wing delivery, Daniel Agger allowed himself to be boxed off by the tussle between Johnson and Ivanovic with the unmarked Terry capitalising by powering in a bullet header beyond the helpless Brad Jones, continuing in goal with Pepe Reina still not fully fit.

However, Terry’s comeback after a four-game domestic ban following his race row with Anton Ferdinand was curtailed 10 minutes before the interval when Suarez, given a nudge in the back by Ramires, accidentally clattered into the centre-back on the edge of the home area.

Television replays made for gruesome viewing, and after five minutes of treatment, the Chelsea skipper departed on a stretcher with suspected knee ligament damage.

Chelsea kept creating chances. Before the break, a retreating Liverpool defence gave an advancing Hazard space to play in Torres for shot parried by Jones, Hazard then acrobatically sending the rebound wide.

In first-half injury time, Mata spurned a great chance when, accepting Oscar’s header on, he jinked beyond Carragher and Wisdom but skied horribly over with just Jones to beat.

The goalkeeper made a decent stop after the interval to repel a Torres header from Oscar’s free-kick, but Jones was fortunate to see his save from a Mata set-piece deflect wide off Jon Obi Mikel.

Liverpool’s only serious effort had seen Sahin send a 20-yard shot harmlessly wide on the half-hour. But, buoyed by the switch in tactics following the introduction of Suso, Rodgers’ men were far more threatening in the final quarter and equalised 17 minutes from time after themselves profiting from poor defending at a corner.

Suso’s right-wing delivery was flicked on by Carragher and Suarez, drifting away from a dozing Ramires at the far post, headed in from a matter of yards. Remarkably, it was Carragher’s first Premier League assist since April 2009.

Liverpool’s growing confidence during the closing stages was encapsulated by Suarez forcing Petr Cech to work to keep out an audacious lob from 25 yards before being only denied by the legs of the onrushing Chelsea goalkeeper as he raced on to Enrique’s pass.

And the Spaniard almost won the game for Liverpool in the fourth minute of injury time only for Cech to make a fine save at his near post.

The headlines, though, belonged once again to the incredible Suarez.
 
MAN OF THE MATCH. Glen Johnson. Impressive in defence and a willing outlet in attack