Martin Olsson opened the scoring for the hosts just after the half-hour mark, making no mistake with a cool finish after being sent bearing down on Pepe Reina's goal.

Benjani doubled Blackburn's advantage shortly after on 38 minutes when he held off Sotirios Kyrgiakos before unleashing an unstoppable effort beyond the Reds' goalkeeper.

The Zimbabwean forward then made it three early in the second half, tapping home from close range from Junior Hoilett's cross.

Steven Gerrard claimed a consolation for the visitors with 10 minutes remaining when he finished emphatically after pouncing on a loose ball inside the box.

But any hopes of a dramatic fight back evaporated when Gerrard blazed over from the penalty spot following a poor challenge by Michel Salgado on 86 minutes.

Liverpool went into the clash aiming to secure their opening away win of 2011 at the first hurdle having won just twice on the road in the Barclays Premier League in the whole of the previous calendar year.

However, both those successes had been achieved in Lancashire - at Burnley and Bolton - and following the manner of the dramatic New Year's Day win against the Trotters, the Reds embarked on the short journey to Ewood Park with renewed confidence.

Roy Hodgson made four changes to the side he sent into battle on Saturday, with Gerrard handed a starting berth to become the 10^th player in our history to reach the milestone of 550 appearances.

In addition, Bolton match-winner Joe Cole also began at Ewood, while Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Paul Konchesky were drafted in.

Meanwhile, in a week in which they announced ambitious plans to lure the likes of Ronaldinho and David Beckham to Lancashire, Blackburn began the game level on points with Liverpool albeit having played two matches more.        

The visitors made an assured start to the contest and having earlier had an effort chalked off for a seemingly marginal offside, Fernando Torres flashed a header dangerously close to Mark Bunn's goal from Konchesky's cross in the opening exchanges.

At the other end, in what was quickly evolving into an open affair, Morten Gamst Pedersen fizzed a free-kick off target while Damien Dunn lashed a volley into orbit.

In fact, the home side should have taken the lead on 17 minutes when Olsson's swirling left-wing cross managed to reach Mame Biram Diouf on the edge of the six-yard box, but the on-loan Manchester United striker could only nudge tamely into the thankful arms of Reina.

Both sides had prime chances to score within a matter of seconds 10 minutes later. First, Glen Johnson's probing run resulted in the full-back playing Cole into space inside the right channel of the box.

The No.10's attempted first-time centre across the face of goal took a deflection and rolled agonisingly wide of the upright.

Blackburn countered from the resulting corner, with Benjani's eventual shot being blocked by Martin Skrtel, only to loop invitingly into the path of Diouf, who volleyed off target.

Then, Lucas Leiva drove deep into the Blackburn ranks and teed up Cole, but his effort was deflected into the travelling supporters by Chris Samba.

A goal before half-time appeared increasingly inventible - and it was to be the home side that drew first blood on 32 minutes.

Dunn's lofted pass forward was plucked from the air with ease by Diouf in space, who in turn slid the ball into Olsson's run beyond Johnson. The Blackburn winger retained his composure to slip a low strike through the legs of Reina.

And their lead was doubled within six minutes. Pedersen hooked a ball into the chest of Benjani inside the box. The striker held off the attentions of Kyrgiakos before swivelling and drilling a ferocious effort into the roof of the net to leave the visitors with a mountain to climb.

However, Hodgson's half-time team talk could have been made that little bit easier had Skrtel not wildly skewed off target after the ball had dropped invitingly for the Slovakian at a corner in stoppage time at the end of the first period.

Only a vastly-improved second-half performance would see the Reds salvage anything from the contest and Gerrard could consider himself unlucky not to have reduced the arrears as he crashed an attempt into the side netting prior to Cole drilling straight into the midriff of Bunn from the edge of the box.

But Blackburn furthered their stronghold on the game on 57 minutes when Junior Hoilett's trickery bamboozled both Johnson and Skrtel on the Blackburn left, allowing him to set up Benjani for the simplest of tap ins.

Liverpool's endeavours to reduce the deficit saw Torres blast high over the crossbar after collecting Cole's inventive pass over the Blackburn back four before the latter stung the fingertips of Bunn with a drive from distance.

Gerrard did find the back of the net with 10 minutes left on the clock when he smashed a stray ball beyond Bunn after Torres's initial shot had been blocked by Ryan Nelsen from substitute Dirk Kuyt's cross.

However, the captain missed from the penalty spot with four minutes left on the clock to compound a bad night for Liverpool.