PUSH AND SHOVE ... Brown and Gerrard tussl
STEVEN GERRARD is set to escape again despite flooring Portsmouth's Michael Brown with a forearm smash.
The Liverpool captain got away with it last week after he was pictured apparently flashing a V-sign at ref Andre Marriner at Wigan.
And the England ace will be thankful this morning that his latest moment of madness during the 4-1 win went unpunished by blunder referee Stuart Attwell.
He awarded a free-kick against Gerrard and gave him a stern talking-to but nothing more and the midfielder was subbed straight afterwards.
Brown was seen to point to a shiner and mouth the words 'three games' but an FA rap is unlikely with Attwell having seen the 72nd-minute incident.
Kop boss Rafa Benitez said: "I have been asked about it but I haven't seen it so I would prefer to enjoy the victory. We would have subbed him anyway."
Opposite number Avram Grant admitted it was not the only incident the Warwickshire official had missed on another miserable night for Portsmouth.
Grant said: "I didn't see it so I cannot say too much but my players told me he was about four metres away from the incident.
"I think the referee needs to see from four metres what I didn't see from 40 metres.
"But I think the ref didn't see a lot of things today so maybe it happened.
"I like Gerrard, I think he's a good player and a fair player but I need to see it first. I haven't spoken to Michael Brown yet but I will do."
Gerrard will be praying there is no further action from the FA again as a retrospective ban would rule him out of Sunday's crunch trip to leaders Manchester United.
Fernando Torres (2), Ryan Babel and Alberto Aquilani, with his first goal for Liverpool, fired the Reds back within a point of fourth place.
Benitez said: "It was a good game, we tried to play well for the fans. We scored goals and it was an important win in an important week."
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