Liverpool gained revenge for Saturday's FA Cup final defeat with an emphatic win over a lacklustre Chelsea to end the Blues' hopes of a top-four finish.

Chelsea were sloppy throughout and fell behind when Michael Essien deflected Luis Suarez's cross into his own net.

Goals from Jordan Henderson and Daniel Agger made it 3-0 and Stewart Downing missed a penalty before half-time.

Ramires pulled a goal back but Ross Turnbull's error allowed Jonjo Shelvey to fire in and crown a superb display.

The only possible blot on the home side's copy book was an unnecessary incident involving the otherwise excellent Suarez, who caught Branislav Ivanovic in the face with his arm. Suarez was not booked by referee Kevin Friend and could face retrospective action.

However, in a game with a number of unsavoury incidents, Chelsea's Michael Essien was shown a yellow card for a nasty challenge on Andy Carroll, so will not face further punishment.

The result made a mockery of Liverpool's woeful home form this season, which had seen them win only six games, while they equalled their lowest home goals tally of 24 courtesy of the four they scored here.

The game could not have been more different from the cagey and dour contest these two sides served up on Saturday.

At Wembley, Chelsea were compact and efficient but here they were shambolic, especially in the first half, while Liverpool were completely transformed from the stuttering, shot-shy side that so underwhelmed the national stadium for an hour.

Granted, it was a much-changed Blues team, with regulars Ashley Cole, Juan Mata and Frank Lampard on the bench and goalkeeper Petr Cech and Didier Drogba omitted, in a clear indication that manager Roberto di Matteo believed the more realistic route to Champions League football next season is as a by-product of glory against Bayern Munich in the final in Munich on 19 May. This is now their only means of qualifying.

But this was no excuse for such sloppiness, particularly as the XI stil