Villa feel right at home at Anfield

English Premier League - Liverpool 1 Aston Villa 3:RAFAEL BENITEZ had called on Liverpool to revisit their history and turn Anfield into a fortress. Instead, they lowered the draw-bridge and invited Aston Villa inside to lay their proud unbeaten record to waste. The expectations upon Benitez's team appear to be weighing heavily.

Not since Carlos Tevez scored at the Kop end in December 2007 had Liverpool fallen at Anfield in the Premier League, a sequence stretching back 31 games and this defeat will bring fresh soul-searching for Benitez.

Two defeats in the opening three games of a season of such promise represents a sorry state, although for Martin O’Neill, himself charged with recovering from a languid opening, the night was as restorative as it was unexpected.

Early goals can be the death of visiting teams to Anfield, as Stoke City discovered last week, and it was a fate Villa had to avoid at all costs given their current brittle state and with memories of their 5-0 drubbing here last season still raw. They almost succumbed after a mere 34 seconds.

Fernando Torres’ opening contribution of a punishing night was to float a delightful chip over the Villa defence for Yossi Benayoun.

With his back to goal and the formidable presence of Brad Friedel closing in, the Israeli midfielder sent a deft back header beyond the former Liverpool goalkeeper but inches wide of an empty net. The true extent of that reprieve would only become apparent much later.

With Carlos Cuellar and Habib Beye unconvincing on the right of the Villa rearguard Liverpool maintained their head of steam in the early stages. Steven Gerrard was also close to opening the scoring following a ridiculous scramble in the visiting area, involving Torres, the Liverpool captain, Benayoun and finally Gerrard once more who was denied from only three yards out by the foot of Friedel.

For the opening 20 minutes O’Neill’s team looked shorn of leadership, the effects of losing Martin Laursen and Gareth Barry lingering still, and Liverpool’s biggest thorn were the three blows to the back of Torres’ head that left the Spanish striker understandably irate. Not all appeared accidental.

With repeated knocks and an eye previously blackened by a collision with Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross, he finished the contest looking more like a boxer than a footballer.

Villa slowly gained a foothold in the game thanks to the dogged determination of Steve Sidwell and Nigel Reo-Coker in midfield, but what was to follow stunned everyone inside Anfield.

First the visitors gained an unexpected lead courtesy of a dreadful implosion by Lucas, the Brazilian midfielder charged with filling the void left by Xabi Alonso and who had been doing a credible task until last night. Having conceded the free-kick that led to Villa’s opener with a needless push on Stiliyan Petrov, he compounded the error by heading Ashley Young’s resulting shot beyond his own goalkeeper, Jose Reina.

Worse was to come for Liverpool. In first half injury time Villa were awarded a corner when Sidwell’s long-distance strike appeared to catch Martin Skrtel and deflected wide. The Anfield majority believed Sidwell’s effort had sliced wide, as did Reina, who was booked for kicking the ball away in protest, and their fury intensified when Curtis Davies headed in Nicky Shorey’s subsequent delivery.

Martin Atkinson, the referee, left the field to a storm of jeers while the Liverpool bench harangued the fourth official for the time added on.

Their inquest would have been better reserved for Liverpool’s defending from the set-piece. The response of the Liverpool players to falling two goals in arrears was equally predictable, and more encouraging.

Friedel’s goal was besieged in the second half but time and again the veteran defied his former club. Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt were thwarted several times by the Villa goalkeeper, while the Dutch international also headed against the post when unmarked.

Torres’ frustrations continued when he fell under a challenge from Davies and got up to see Atkinson wave play on. The Spaniard put his head inside his shirt as though he could not bear to look.

Though he reduced the arrears from close range, Young’s penalty two minutes later, after Gerrard had felled Reo-Coker, prompted a similar response among his followers. - Guardian Service

LIVERPOOL:Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Insua, Mascherano, Lucas (Voronin 66), Kuyt, Gerrard, Benayoun (Babel 75), Torres. Subs not used: Cavalieri, Riera, Kelly, Dossena, Ayala. Booked: Reina, Torres, Skrtel.

ASTON VILLA:Friedel, Beye, Davies, Cuellar, Shorey, Milner, Sidwell, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Ashley Young (Heskey 80), Agbonlahor. Subs not used: Guzan, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Delph, Gardner, Lowry. Booked: Ashley Young, Reo-Coker.

Referee:M Atkinson (W Yorkshire).