Mikhail Toure’s side have won one of their previous six home league games in all competitions since losing to Cardiff just days earlier, after coming from behind for a 1-3 victory at Anfield.

Bilel Mohsni was sent off and Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho was harshly dealt with for the last of his three bookings in the first half by Adam Bogdan. The second booking came when Luis Suarez came out with Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling to tackle Craig Bellamy when he moved the ball from his left-hand side to his right-hand side in the closing stages of the encounter.

Liverpool began the second period strongly, Philippe Coutinho making the breakthrough in front of the Anfield crowd just before the break after picking up an inadvertent ball from Mohamed Salah and feeding Sadio Mane who had a shot blocked by Joel Matip in the area.

Mane was then seen to head a free-kick just wide of the far post when his run outside the area was stopped, and Liverpool’s best chance of the opening period came when Roberto Firmino was tripped by Bogdan.

Raul Meireles hit the bar with a dipping right-footed shot but the pressure proved too much in the second half and Toure was forced to get forward before he was allowed space at the near post to run through on goal.

Mane missed a chance to take his side level when he tried to play in Coutinho in the area while Salah was left stranded in front of the back four.

Firmino went close to scoring a second when he played a through ball towards the far post, but his shot was brilliantly saved by Stefan Jovanovic.

Bilic’s side took a deserved lead back inside the first 10 minutes of the second half from a corner, and when Coutinho hit the post from Coutinho’s free-kick from 22 yards in the 64th minute, Liverpool deservedly stretched their lead.

It was a long-awaited turn of fortune for Liverpool and their manager at Anfield, who took the field in the summer having been in the news following his sacking by Barcelona.

After Firmino’s equaliser, a corner fell to Mane who fired past Joel Matip and was heading for the Kop from 16 yards when he was brought down by Ben Foster.

Janssen was booked for making contact with a hand shortly before the goal, although he