James Milner’s second-half penalty was the difference as Liverpool claimed their first home league win of Jurgen Klopp’s reign with a 1-0 victory over Swansea City.
Milner slotted home from the spot in the 62nd-minute after Neil Taylor’s handball as Liverpool climbed to sixth in the Premier League table.
There were starts at Anfield for England internationals Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne but in more encouraging news for club and country Jordan Henderson and Daniel Sturridge stepped up their returns from injury with second-half appearances from the bench.
In Sunday’s early kick-off Gary Cahill and Harry Kane battled each other to a standstill as it finished goalless between Chelsea and Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Eric Dier and Ryan Mason all started for Spurs while England Under-21 midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek came off the bench for the Blues but neither side could find a winner.
Elsewhere on Sunday Rickie Lambert’s deflected shot earned West Brom a share of the spoils at West Ham.
Lambert’s effort was turned into his own net by Winston Reid after the Hammers – who had Carl Jenkinson starting at right-back and brought Andy Carroll off the bench – earlier took the lead through Mauro Zarate.
And Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain came off the bench for Arsenal but could not conjure a winner for Arsenal as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Carrow Road against Norwich.
Mesut Ozil put the Gunners in front but Lewis Grabban levelled before the break as England Under-21 winger Nathan Redmond came on in the second half as both sides searched in vain for the winner.
And finally, England Under-18s star Dominic Solanke started for loan club Vitesse while his Chelsea team-mate Lewis Baker came off the bench as the Dutch side claimed a 1-0 win over NEC Nijmegen in the Eredivisie.
