Liverpool held at Wigan despite Torres

Fernando Torres ended his eight-month wait for an away goal in the Premier League but was powerless to prevent Wigan earning a deserved 1-1 draw at the DW Stadium.

Roy Hodgson's side looked set for their fourth straight win in the Premier League whenSteven Gerrard and Torres combined to devastating effect on seven minutes.

Skipper Gerrard, who netted a stupendous treble in the 3-1 win over Napoli in the Europa League last midweek, picked out the run of Torres who darted clear to slip the ball beyond Ali Al Habsi from 12 yards.

Wigan dominated large swathes off the match and were rewarded with a point when Hugo Rodallega fired home a volley after Jose Reina could only palm out Ronnie Stam's cross on 52 minutes.

It was the least Roberto Martinez's side deserved as they recovered from successive defeats at Fulham and Blackburn Rovers to produce the type of resolute effort they will need to stay in the Premier League for a seventh straight season.

Gerrard hit the bar late on for the visitors, but Liverpool were barely worth a point as they struggled to replicate the form that downed champions Chelsea 2-0 on Sunday.

Inspired by the wonderfully exuberant Charles N'Zogbia, Wigan will play worse this season and win.

They would have headed off into the night with more to show for their output if they had been a little more composed in the visiting area.

Hodgson did not exactly take a leaf out of Rafael Benitez's book by naming an unchanged starting line-up.

The visiting side looked as if they were going to sparkle in the cold when Lucas forced home keeper Al Habsi to claw the ball over his bar in the opening minutes from a 20-yard swerver before Torres tucked away his 17th goal in 41 games away from home in a Liverpool jersey.

They almost added a second on 14 minutes when Torres fed Gerrard who played a delightful one-two from Dirk Kuyt's cushioned header only for the England midfielder to clip his volley over the bar.

Little did Torres know then that he would largely be restricted to a spectating role as Wigan pinned them back with a gusto that belied their lowly 18th position in the Premier League table.

Wigan were denied an equaliser as Liverpool inexplicably began their great retreat. They almost paid the price when Lucas gave the ball to N'Zogbia for no apparent reason.

N'Zogbia slotted into the net on 31 minutes, but the referee had deemed him to be offside from Rodallega's return ball.

Rodallega was so close to converting from Stam's inviting cross five minutes before the break, but he made no mistake when he lashed the volley into the corner of the net to restore parity as Wigan continued in the ascendancy at the outset of the second half.

They almost moved ahead on 54 minutes when Rodallega picked up a lovely pass from Mohamed Diame. He tried to round Reina, but the Liverpool keeper stayed on his feet long enough as the ball ran away from him and the chance was lost.

Liverpool were living dangerously, but almost benefited from a huge slice of luck to win it on 79 minutes.

Antolin Alcaraz slipped attempting to cut out Maxi Rodriguez's pass and the ball broke to Gerrard. He let fly from 14 yards, but watched in agony as the ball hit the underside of the bar before bouncing away to safety.

The performance illustrated perfectly Hodgson's pre-match thoughts. His side are capable of joyous nights in beating Chelsea, but they are also vulnerable to being dragged down to evenings like this one.