Luis Suarez was the talk of the DW Stadium as his brilliant hat-trick fired Liverpool to a 4-0 win at Wigan.

The Uruguayan was at his untouchable best as he became the third Liverpool player to score 20 goals in a Premier League season, joining Robbie Fowler (25) and Fernando Torres (24).

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With 10 games to go he has 21 in the league - two clear of nearest rival Robin van Persie in the race for the Golden Boot - and his team-mates were quick to laud him.

"I can say he can do something out of nothing,'' Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina told ESPN.

"He can score for himself or give assists for team-mates."

England international Stewart Downing, who opened the scoring in the first minute, added: "He must be a nightmare for defenders. He can be quiet but they know they have to be on their toes.

"He can score out of nothing, he is top quality and has been brilliant all season."

Manager Brendan Rodgers continued the tributes to Suarez's performance.

"He's such a pleasure to work with," he said. "This is a man, and it might seem strange, who not only trains every day and wants to train every day. He is so hungry and has the humility.

"He is in there pleased for the team. He has quality, finishing, work-rate and that's what makes him world class."

Philippe Coutinho also impressed again, suggesting he is settling into life in England following his move from Inter Milan.

"He is still picking up fitness and got another 60, 70 minutes today," Rodgers said of the midfielder. "You can see how he fits in to us. But this was a fantastic team performance."

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez was bitterly disappointed with his side's display, especially as they had played so well in beating fellow strugglers Reading 3-0 last week.

"The first goal showed a real lack of concentration as Downing had a free header in the six-yard box," he said.

"The first 20 minutes we were very soft and defensively nowhere near where we needed to be.

"That (first) goal had a snowball effect on our performance."

Martinez denied not having a method of negating the threat of Suarez cost them dearly.

"If you look at the stats at the end we had as many shots on target as they had but the performance of Pepe Reina had a bigger effect on the result than us stopping Luis Suarez," he added.