Premier League - Goal of the week: Torres magic

Half of you thought Fernando Torres's opening strike in Liverpool's 2-0 win over Manchester United was the best goal in England last week.

The Spain star raced on to Yossi Benayoun's excellent through ball, eluded the sluggish Rio Ferdinand and - as he fell - drilled a snap-shot into the roof of the net to put the Reds one-up against their bitter rivals. 

It got an impressive 50 per cent of more than 14,000 votes.

Context appears to have played some part in Torres's easy win: there were undoubtedly more spectacular goals but, before the game, there was huge pressure on Rafael Benitez with Liverpool struggling after four consecutive defeats.

There is also the implication that such polls are little more than glorified popularity contests among the so-called Big Four' 

While Michael Essien's long-range rocket in Chelsea's 5-0 win over Blackburn (30 per cent of the votes) was impressive, Louis Saha's remarkable effort for Everton against Bolton was surely worth more than the measly eight per cent it got.

Fourth, with four per cent, came Martin Petrov's crisp finish that put Manchester City 2-0 up at home to Fulham, a lead eventually cancelled out by the Whites.

Gabriel Agbonlahor's turn and finish to put Aston Villa ahead in a Black Country derby at Wolves got three per cent, with James McFadden's cool finish in Birmingham's win over Sunderland and Hugo Rodallega's second in the 3-1 win at Burnley both on two per cent, although Rodallega edged McFadden by 23 votes.

Finally, one in a hundred of you thought Marouane Fellaini's superb drive from an acute angle was the best of the lot - Toffees boss David Moyes will take little comfort that both his side's goals against Bolton made the top eight, as they lost the game 3-2.

Goal of the week: final results (14,271 votes)

Fernando Torres (Liverpool v Manchester United): 50% (7109 votes)

Michael Essien (Chelsea v Blackburn Rovers): 30% (4291)

Louis Saha (Everton at Bolton): 8% (1138)

Martin Petrov (Manchester City v Fulham): 4% (616)

Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa at Wolves): 3% (415)

Hugo Rodallega (second, Wigan at Burnley): 2% 271)

James McFadden (Birmingham v Sunderland): 2% (248)

Marouane Fellaini (Everton at Bolton): 1% (183)
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