IN the wake of an astonishing final few minutes at Loftus Road, Steven Gerrard admitted Liverpool were lucky to come away with the win after an injury-time own goal from Queens Park Rangers centre-back Steven Caulker.

Eduardo Vargas' two late strikes had the hosts edging towards a deserved and creditable draw, only for Caulker to put through his own net in the fourth minute of added time.

Richard Dunne's own goal put Rangers behind midway through the second half. Vargas equalised with normal time running out, notching his first goal in English football, only for Philippe Coutinho's deflected effort to restore the Liverpool lead.

Vargas put QPR back on level terms moments later, but Liverpool sneaked the final word and the points, with Caulker the luckless fall guy. Gerrard was not impressed by Liverpool's performance and felt his side would have had no complaints had they left west London pointless. "We're still in shock to be honest," he said. "We're very lucky today. We would have had no complaints if we came away with nothing, we would have no complaints if we came away with a point. Our performance needs to be better. I think the only credit we can give ourselves is that we never give up."

All eyes were on Raheem Sterling at the start, after the fitness row with England this week. Carlo Ancelotti, the Real Madrid manager was also forced to deny he was interested in bringing the youngster to the Bernabeu on Saturday night.

Elsewhere, Stoke City defeated Swansea with a late winner from substitute Jon Walters.