This has been a season of setbacks for Aston Villa and in the context of their battle to remain in the Premier League, this result may prove the most severe. Dumped into the relegation zone following Wigan's win against Norwich on Saturday, Villa looked set to haul themselves back into the safety positions following Christian Benteke's first-half goal only to collapse after the interval with two goals conceded in what felt like a blink of the eye.
It has been an all too familiar turn of events for this Villa side and yet again they only had themselves to blame for a failure to keep what would have been a first clean sheet since 8 December. Youthful naivety remains at the heart of this team's problems, with the 21-year-old centre-back Nathan Baker the culprit on this occasion, making a reckless tackle on Luis Suárez just before the hour that gave the referee, Lee Mason, no option but to award Liverpool a penalty. Steven Gerrard duly converted to put the visitors ahead on a freezing afternoon.
They had equalised less than two minutes into the second-half when, again, one of the youngsters was at fault. This time it was Ashley Westwood, with the 22-year-old midfielder allowing Jordan Henderson to run past him and place Philippe Coutinho's perfectly weighted through pass over Brad Guzan.
Afterwards Paul Lambert, the Villa manager, refused to single out anyone for blame, insisting that in a "team sport you need everyone together", yet individual errors are threatening to plunge this club into the Championship. They sit in 18th, behind Wigan on goal difference, but having played a game more than Roberto Martínez's side.
For Liverpool this was a welcome victory given that it moved them back within three points of Everton in sixth and went some way to making up for their 3-1 defeat to Southampton two weeks ago.
Brendan Rodgers made four changes to his starting line-up, with Pepe Reina and Jamie Carragher coming back in alongside Lucas Leiva and Henderson to give the Merseysiders a level of nous that was lacking on the south coast.
It was, however, a player who has not missed a minute of Premier League football this season who shone brightest. Steven Gerrard was at his influential and impressive best, dictating Liverpool's tempo from a deep-lying midfield role, and as well as playing a part in both of his side's goals – it was from the 32-year-old's cross-field ball that Coutinho set up Henderson for the equaliser – he also ensured Liverpool held on to their lead with a stunning goalline clearance on 65 minutes, after Benteke had been presented with a free header from Westwood's corner.
"He's a remarkable man and a real inspiration," said Rodgers of Gerrard having revealed that the club captain had undergone an injection in a heel in order to participate having picked up the injury while on international duty. "You see his ability and there were moments within the second half when he was showing the responsibility of being our on-field leader. I cannot speak highly enough of him."
Rodgers was also full of praise for Suárez, who was his typical industrious and ingenious self, displaying none of the tiredness that his manager saw in the 26-year-old upon his return from playing for Uruguay in their recent World Cup qualifiers. He was a constant menace to Villa's back four and, as Rodgers said, "frightened" Baker into giving away the penalty. The only negative aspect of Suárez's display was his finishing, with the Premier League's top scorer failing to beat Guzan with three inviting chances in the first half alone.
In fairness to Suárez he was left rather isolated early on, playing as Liverpool's sole attacker as his regular partner Daniel Sturridge looked on from the substitutes' bench, and was forced to drop deep as Liverpool aimed to hurt Villa on the counter attack. It was a dangerous ploy against a side buoyed by back-to-back victories and it did not come as a shock when Villa took the lead on 31 minutes. Gabriel Agbonlahor cushioned Westwood's long pass into the path of Benteke and the Belgian drove a low shot past Reina for his 18th goal of the season.
Villa were in control but everything changed within minutes of the restart. Henderson scored and the balance tilted in Liverpool's favour, with the visitors now hogging possession and Villa looking increasingly edgy.
They had chances to grab an equaliser and even had the ball in the back of the net only for Benteke's late volley to be ruled offside. But there was to be no rescue and their afternoon got worse when the referee spotted Westwood's knee-high tackle on Henderson near the end and showed him a yellow card.
Man of the match Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
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