Barclays Premier League: The promising Balotelli for the 100th game of Rodgers

Mario Balotelli made a hopeful debut as Brendan Rodgers distinguished his 100th game that gave Liverpool a 3-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur.

Having shuffled his pack for UEFA Europa League defeat of AEL Limassol, Pochettino reverted to the same starting line-up that crushed Queens Park Rangers last weekend.

Rodgers insisted in the build-up to fixture that his club would not become 'the Balotelli show' but the controversial striker went straight into the starting line-up at the expense of Philippe Coutinho.

It was England starlet Sterling, with Roy Hodgson watching on from the White Hart Lane stands ahead of the upcoming double-header against Norway and Switzerland, who put the visitors on the road to victory when finishing off a neat early break.  

Captain Steven Gerrard also joked that the Italy international had already made an impact with his new team-mates by changing the pre-match music in the dressing room and he certainly looked at ease from the outset.

An early header almost gave Balotelli a dream start and he linked up well with fellow forwards Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge for the hour he was on to help Liverpool bounce back from Monday's 3-1 defeat at Manchester City and follow up last season's 5-0 and 4-0 victories over Tottenham with another emphatic Barclays Premier League romp.

As well as bringing in Balotelli, Liverpool also made two changes in defence, with Mamadou Sakho and Javier Manquillo replacing Glen Johnson and Martin Skrtel, but Adam Lallana did not make the squad despite travelling to London after recovering from injury.

Balotelli almost made a sensational start when heading on target from a Sturridge cross after just two minutes, but Hugo Lloris did well to save.

Balotelli left the field soon after, to rapturous applause from the away fans, and Liverpool could have gone further ahead when Sterling waltzed through the home defence before hitting his shot tamely at Lloris.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers: "I thought the two boys up front and Raheem in behind were a constant threat. [Balotelli]'s a good guy, he's worked well this week and I think everyone could see the team effort as he was pressing as much as he could. He was very good."

"Sterling is flexible and we've tried to develop him to not just be a wide player but to also be able to play on the inside - and I thought he was excellent".

He added: "From the inside, he can turn and he can press. Then, when we went to 4-3-3 he's got that pace to go on the outside. It's important for me that they have that intelligence to play in different positions and he can."

"I thought we were terrific - outstanding. It's a difficult place to come because they've started well and Mauricio [Pochettino] is an excellent coach who will do very well here, so to get to two wins out of three is great and I'm reasonably happy."

Spurs head coach Mauricio Pochettino: "It's a very disappointing result and two key moments at the start of each half cost us. After we went 1-0 down, we stayed in the game and created chances, but in football you need luck at key moments and [it] was difficult."

"We need to improve and look forward. It's the beginning of the season and only three games in."

(Source: Barclays Premier League offcial website)