Source: Daily_Mail
Liverpool v Aston Villa live
Follow Sportsmail's live coverage as Gerard Houllier makes his return to the touchline at Anfield when his Aston Villa side take on Liverpool in the Barclays Premier League. Villa are only two points off the bottom three but Liverpool also have one eye over their shoulder as they too languish in the bottom half of the table. Email me all your thoughts on the action at dan.ripley@dailymail.co.uk[LNB] Liverpool 3-0 Aston Villa (8pm)Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Kyrgiakos (Kelly 83), Skrtel, Konchesky, Kuyt (Cole 80), Meireles, Lucas, Maxi (Aurelio 76), Babel, Ngog.Subs: Jones,Jovanovic, Poulsen, Shelvey.[LNB]Goals: Ngog 14, Babel 16, Maxi 55.[LNB]Aston Villa: Friedel, Luke Young, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Albrighton (Pires 65), Clark (Delfouneso 46), Hogg, Downing, Ireland, Agbonlahor (Carew 66).Subs: Guzan, Cuellar, Lichaj, Herd.[LNB]Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire) [LNB]21.59: Final word for Pepe Reina, that shut-out means he has achieved 100 clean sheets for the club in fewer games than any other past Liverpool stopper.[LNB]Not much to do for the Spaniard tonight but that was a smart stop from Agbonlahor at 2-0 early in the second half, congratulations to him.[LNB]That's the Premier League done for the weekend, but check back tomorrow where the Champions League is back in action.[LNB]Manchester United host Valencia while Tottenham visit FC Twente so be sure not to miss it. Thank you for following our coverage, have a good evening.[LNB]21.54: For Villa, they need the transfer window and urgently, you just can't see where a win is going to come from.[LNB]They stay in 16th just two points in front of the drop zone. Worrying times for the West Midlands club.[LNB]21.52: So very polished performance from Liverpool that takes them into eighth.[LNB]That's four points off Europe and 10 points off the top. This time last year they were 13.[LNB]Full-time: Liverpool 3-0 Aston Villa[LNB]90+2min: After being crowded out the box, Downing cuts across 25 yards out before firing an effort over the bar.[LNB]90min: Two minutes added on.[LNB]88min: You have to worry for Villa, Liverpool have not had to work for this and with the halfway point of the season approaching they look like getting sucked into a relegation fight.[LNB]84min: Final sub from Hodgson, Martin Kelly replaces Kyrgiakos who has pulled up with cramp.[LNB]83min: If there is another goal in this game Liverpool will get it, Villa lack too many ideas going forward and all too often the Reds are stealing it on the counter and breaking away dangerously.[LNB]80min: Liverpool win another corner but before they take it they make another sub with Joe Cole coming on for Kuyt.[LNB]79min: This Villa fightback looks dead as the body language of the players suggest they have accepted defeat.[LNB]77min: Mot much from Pires so far, seen him three times now and unfortunately those legs look too tired for the Premier League.[LNB]76min: First sub from Liverpool, Fabio Aurelio replaces Maxi.[LNB]75min: Liverpool win a corner, and it should be four as Kyrgiakos's towering header bounces off the turf with Jonathan Hogg clearing the effort of the line.[LNB]71min: Too casual from Johnson, Maxi finds the full-back in space on the right hand side of the box but he drills his shot quite high over the bar. Should at the very least hit the target.[LNB]68min: Top save from Friedel but that is stunning from Glen Johnson. He beats two players with silky turns on the right before driving a shot towards goal that Friedel does well to parry out for a corner.[LNB]His defending i suspect but he is superb going forward.[LNB]67min: Villa have improved greatly in this half but that final ball is still lacking. Trouble for them is Liverpool look home and hosed.[LNB]66min: Double trouble is planned from Houllier. Robert Pires replaces Albrighton and Agbonlahor makes way for John Carew.[LNB] Delight: Maxi Rodriguez celebrates Liverpool's third goal[LNB]63min: Maybe a bit too much confidence from Babel. From the left flank he cuts inside the penalty box, he beats one man and lets it go to his head as he continues to try and take more players on before losing the ball, some good passing opportunities for a fourth goal then too. [LNB]61min: Fair play to Villa they continue to push forward but it's almost as if Liverpool are holding back.[LNB]58min: That has really knocked the wind out of Villa's sails as they were just starting to dominate, they have 30 minutes to do the unthinkable.[LNB]55min: GOAL! LIVERPOOL 3-0 Aston Villa[LNB]That is brilliant. Liverpool counter and from the halfway line Maxi Rodriguez feeds the ball out to the wing for Ngog. He charges down the left before squaring the ball low inside the box for Maxi (who went on an almighty gallop) to tuck the ball away almost in carbon copy fashion to Jordan Henderson for Sunderland yesterday.[LNB] Support: Liverpool fans welcome back Gerard Hollier[LNB]53min: Much, much better from villa, Downing manages to break away down the left and after squaring the ball in the six box, Agbonlahor's sliding effort is well stopped by Reina. Warnings for Liverpool.[LNB]51min: Scrappy so far, no real conviction in either side and a few unforced errors creeping in.[LNB]48min: Warnock is back on as Villa try to zip the ball about a bit.[LNB]47min: That is woeful, Warnock completely mis-reads a ball played back to him after a throw in and after giving away possession is going to have to come off for a few minutes after injuring himself while stretching for the ball[LNB]Luckily for him nothing came from that Liverpool break.[LNB]Second-half: One change as we get back underway, with Nathan Delfouneso replacing Clark.[LNB] Appreciation: Houllier acknowledges the positive reception he got from the Liverpool fans [LNB]20.59: Right so what have Villa got in the locker, Liverpool have cruised this so far. they can't be that bad again in the second-half.[LNB]20.54: Martin Jol has resigned as boss of Ajax, Newcastle bound surely. They have gone in for him before you know.[LNB]20.52: In fact Liverpool have hardly tried, this game is following a remarkably similar pattern to Liverpool's 3-0 win against West Ham in their last home outing.[LNB]20.50: No Premier League matches are easy right? Wrong, Reina has had absolutely nothing to do in the Liverpool goal and Villa have been on the back-foot since kick-off.[LNB]Half-time: Liverpool 2-0 Aston Villa[LNB]45min: One minute of added time.[LNB]43min: Villa's wingers have faded badly in this game and the side are clearly lacking confidence. Nobody wants the ball, nobody wants to male the run and the passes are going sideways and backwards. If I was Houllier I would get a crate of energy drinks into that dressing room at half-time and sharpish.[LNB] Everybody was kung-fu fighting: Stephen Ireland (right) contests a high ball with Maxi Rodriguez[LNB]41min: Now James Collins is nearly caught in possession by Maxi Rodriguez, he urgently sidesteps the challenge but that is too close for comfort.[LNB]I have never seen a Premier League team look so dozy at the back.[LNB]38min: More misery for Villa, Ciaran Clark's studs are pretty high when he contests a loose ball with Lucas and he cops a booking for his troubles with his late challenge[LNB]He misses the Midlands derby with West Brom in Villa's next match.[LNB]37min: Another example, Raul pings a lovely ball to the edge of the box and Babel steals in front of Young to hit a volley that flies just wide of the post.[LNB]35min: Villa just have not woke up, there seems to be no urgency as time after time they are losing loose balls they really should win. Dunne v Babel is just a mismatch of epic proportions thus far.[LNB]33min: Pepe Reina's kicking is looking slightly suspect this evening. His distribution has been very poor, with a couple of his balls to Konchesky putting the left-back in a bit of trouble.[LNB]31min: Very disappointing from Villa so far. Gabriel Agbonlahor is feeding off scraps as he just can't get any service, easy street for Liverpool this.[LNB]27min: Another free-kick out wide, another Raul Meireles ball in and it should be 3-0 as Kyrgiakos heads over at the far post. There is more goals in this I'm telling you.[LNB]26min: Speaking of makeshift lines, the Liverpool defence is standing firm so far. Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Martin Skrtel are playing like they have known each other for years.[LNB]23min: Stewart Downing's corner is headed over by Stephen Ireland. Disappointing.[LNB] Expert: Ryan Babel produced a classy finish to double Liverpool's lead[LNB]22min: Corner for Villa though after Albrighton's cross cannons off Konchesky. Albrighton is Villa's one plus point, he looks some player.[LNB]20min: I knew that Villa defence was looking sleepy that are caught flat footed on both those strikes.[LNB]Not too much from either side since.[LNB]18min: Some makeshift strike force, it's taken them little more than a quarter of an hour to both score.[LNB]16min: GOAL! LIVERPOOL 2-0 Aston Villa[LNB]A quick fire double! Lucas lobs a superb ball over the top of the defence and Ryan Babel (slightly offside) races onto it to smash home a volley across goal from 16 yards out. Top finish that and his backward flip celebration is just as impressive.[LNB] Heads I win: Ngog (24) heads home his second Premier League goal of the season[LNB]14min: GOAL! LIVERPOOL 1-0 Aston Villa[LNB]Raul Meirles whips in a corner from the right where Martin Skrtel rises very well to head the ball into the six yard box where the Villa defence stand like statues as David Ngog races in to bullet a header home.[LNB]11min: Villa have settled into this and Albrighton is especially causing a few problems for Konchesky on the right.[LNB]Nobody has gone as close as Kuyt in those opening exchanges though.[LNB]8min: Better from Villa, Marc Albrighton and Ashley Young combine well on the right with one touch stuff, with Young then brought down to win a free-kick in Liverpool's half.[LNB]Liverpool easily clear the long ball in the box.[LNB]6min: Very shaky at the back for Villa. Luke Young and Richard Dunne exchange simple passes but the latter is very lethargic and has to urgently clear under pressure from Ryan Babel. Houllier will be fuming at this.[LNB]4min: Very bright opening from Liverpool, they are drawing fouls and look much more lively as they ask plenty of questions from a Villa backline that does not have many answers, or at least the equivalent of a stutter.[LNB]3min: Raul Meireles whips in a free-kick from the right and with Villa only clearing it all of two yards in their penalty box, Dirk Kuyt hits a volley that zaps past the post.[LNB]2min: Plenty of passing and running around in these opening stages, not a night you really want to stand still with these freezing temperatures.[LNB]Kick-off: Liverpool get us going.[LNB]20.00: Good reception from the Frenchman with a polite round of applause from the crowd, he looks like he is loving every minute of this.[LNB]19.58: Players are out, not a very noisy greeting from the fans though, almost as if the voice boxes have frozen.[LNB]19.56: Some amusing footage of Houllier entering the building earlier. After greeting some familiar faces he perhaps took a too familiar walk as he marched off towards the home dressing room before quickly remembering otherwise, big smile on his face after.[LNB]19.53: Some big chances out there tonight, Four-four-two for Liverpool sees Ryan Babel again start in attack following his sole role in the Europa League last week.[LNB]But now in Ngog he has a strike partner and will be interesting to see how they combine.[LNB]19.50: After missing out at White Hart Lane, Pepe Reina will again be looking for his 100th clean sheet that will bring up his ton in the fewest games than any other Liverpool keeper in history.[LNB]I have not got the exact number but I do know he has plenty of games to achieve this. Just shows how valuable he has actually been for them.[LNB]19.47: Mind you according to Opta stats, Villa have only one once away in their last eight games away from home in the league.[LNB]19.44: Who remembers that 3-1 victory from Villa last season?[LNB]Torres' strike was not enough for the Reds as an own goal from Lucas, a Curtis Davies header and an Ashley Young penalty saw Villa run out winners.[LNB]19.41: Looking at the warm up at Anfield, it looks very cold out there.[LNB]Not many people in the stands because they are probably topping up on the hot beverages inside the stadium.[LNB]Plenty of players with plenty of layers too.[LNB]19.38: Chris Hughton then, how will that affect Hodgson?[LNB]I can't think of a valid reason why Hughton was dismissed, but with a new board in at Anfield since Hodgson's appointment how will he be feeling?[LNB]After all Newcastle sit above Liverpool in the league and we don't know if these American owners are the trigger happy type yet.[LNB]19.35: Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier's first competitive return to his former club sees him make two changes to the team which lost to Birmingham in the Carling Cup last week.[LNB]Stephen Ireland and Marc Albrighton replace the suspended Ashley Young and injured Barry Bannan.[LNB]For Liverpool Ryan Babel, who impressed in Thursday's Europa League draw against Steaua Bucharest, takes the vacant striker's role alongside David Ngog with Sotirios Kyrgiakos coming into central defence as the only two changes to the side which lost at Tottenham eight days ago.[LNB]19.33: Full lineups from Anfield:[LNB]Liverpool v Aston VillaLiverpool: Reina, Johnson, Kyrgiakos, Skrtel, Konchesky, Kuyt, Meireles, Lucas, Maxi, Babel, Ngog. Subs: Jones, Aurelio, Cole, Jovanovic, Poulsen, Shelvey, Kelly.Aston Villa: Friedel, Luke Young, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Albrighton, Clark, Hogg, Downing, Ireland, Agbonlahor. Subs: Guzan, Pires, Carew, Delfouneso, Cuellar, Lichaj, Herd.Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)[LNB]19.30: Hands up, who saw that coming? No, not Chris Hughton's sacking (more on that in a sec) but the fact Fernando Torres misses out tonight.[LNB]The Spanish striker will not feature at all as there is a new baby on the way this evening in the Torres household, with his wife going into labour today (Best wishes with that Fernando & co).[LNB]While that is good news for Villa it's terrible news for Roy Hodgson and Liverpool who are already without their other two big players Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard.[LNB]If Aston Villa needed any inspiration to repeat their stunning victory here last season, it's all been laid out in front of them tonight. Full team news on the way.[LNB] Big chance: David Ngog is Liverpool's joint top scorer[LNB] Steven Gerrard but Djimi Traore, cups but no titles - the many hits and misses of Gerard Houllier's five-year Anfield reignPhil Thompson: I love Gerard but he'll Kop it on Anfield returnALL LIVERPOOL FC
