Adam Lallana and Jordan Henderson scored as Liverpool registered their first Premier League win since August by grinding out a hard-fought 2-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion at Anfield.
Lallana's first Liverpool goal was cancelled out by a controversial Saido Berahino penalty before Henderson's driven winner helped last season's runners-up climb to seventh.
"It was vital (we won). We needed to find a way to win today against a side that is really high on confidence," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers told Sky Sports.
"An excellent result on the back of a disappointing European result. Their penalty was outside the box but the players showed their character and resilience to keep going and find a winner. It was an outstanding win for us."
Papiss Cisse struck twice to ease the growing pressure on underfire Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew with a 2-2 draw against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.
Steven Fletcher scored a brace as Sunderland beat Stoke City 3-1 to claim their first win of the season following five draws from their opening six games.
Leicester City were held to a 2-2 draw by fellow promoted side Burnley, who grabbed their second equaliser through Ross Wallace deep into stoppage time.
Elsewhere, Neil Warnock suffered his first league defeat since returning to Crystal Palace in a 2-0 loss to Hull City, who won for the first time since August.
Champions Manchester City will look to cut the gap on table-topping Chelsea when they travel to Aston Villa in the late kickoff.
LACKLUSTRE DISPLAY
Liverpool manager Rodgers dropped Mario Balotelli after being critical of the Italian striker's shortage of goals following the lacklustre 1-0 Champions League loss to Basel.
Rickie Lambert was handed his first Premier League start for the club and the England international should have given the hosts the lead but he was excellently thwarted by Ben Foster.
Reinvigorated West Brom were rarely troubled for the remainder of the half before England international Lallana gave the hosts the lead on the stroke of halftime.
The 26-year-old exchanged passes with England team mate Henderson before dispatching a sharp finish low into the bottom corner.
West Brom started the second half brightly and restored parity after 56 minutes through Berahino's fifth league goal of the season.
The 21-year-old coolly converted his penalty after he was felled by Dejan Lovren, despite the infringement appearing to occur outside the area.
The visitors continued to take the game to Liverpool but fell behind again after Henderson collected Raheem Sterling's pass and finished smartly.
Cisse was Newcastle's hero as he twice equalised to help his team record an encouraging point away from home.
Wilfried Bony's first goal of the season had given Swansea the lead but that was cancelled out by Cisse's near-post flick.
Wayne Routledge nudged the hosts back in front but Cisse's simple finish in the 75th minute temporarily lifted Newcastle off the bottom of the table, though they are still yet to win in the league this season.
Chelsea host Arsenal, second-placed Southampton travel to Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United entertain Everton and bottom club Queens Park Rangers visit West Ham United on Sunday.
"To go behind twice shows great character from the team. I'm pleased with a point," Pardew told Sky Sports
"We are where we are and there is a lot of pressure on us and it's difficult to play. Hopefully, we can get ourselves a couple of wins and we can get some confidence back and show we are a better side than we are at the moment."