89 min Tonev - who, Sky viewers have been informed on three occasions by Alan Smith, "doesn't lack for confidence" - punts the ball wide.
88 min 30 yards from goal, Agbonlahor is brought down by Lucas before he can pick out a pass. An obvious foul and perhaps a sensible one. Free kick to Villa in dangerous territory.
86 min Fantastic save from Mignolet! Benteke is clean through for the first time in the match, running onto a flick from Nicklas Helenius, who just replaced Westwood. He hits his shot with venom, 12 yards from goal and to the right, and the ball takes the minutest flick off Kolo Toure on its path towards goal. The Belgian keeper hurls himself to his left to punch the ball out of play.
84 min Bacuna aims a powerful punt upfield, more in hope than expectation. Toure gets underneath it. Some of the spark has gone out of Villa after playing with a lot of intensity for the past half an hour or so. Are they spent, or regrouping for one last assault?
82 min Coutinho comes off for Joe Allen.
80 min Delph can't quite reach a long ball down the line from Tony Moon and Liverpool can regroup. Rodgers paces in the tactical pacing zone, his features arranged into an expression which would be labelled Authoritative Concern on the colour chart of managerial expressions, if such a chart existed. Moments earlier, Villa had a penalty shout turned down after Benteke went down after the latest bout in his running battle with Kolo Toure.
78 min Okore charges through a challenge from Lucas and lays the ball off for Tonev, whose powerfully struck low-effort doesn't present Mignolet with much of a problem.
77 min Tonev, stationed on the left wing, skips inside, dodging a challenge from Enrique. He can't dodge that, though - a no-nonsense intervention from Gerrard, who has made a few telling defensive contributions this half.
76 min Into the last 15 minutes and Villa are looking more threatening than they have all match. Partly that's down to Liverpool, who are no longer closing down with such ferocity high up the pitch. As they sit deeper Villa are enjoying far more time in midfield.
74 min Aston Villa's best spell of passing ends with the ball falling nicely to Agbonlahor on the edge of the box after Toure, under pressure from Benteke, couldn't get enough on a defensive header. Agbonlahor shins his effort narrowly wide and Benteke stamps in frustration.
72 min It's Weimann's turn to head at goal but he connects from too far out and with too little force to worry Mignolet. Plus it's off-target, so Mignolet is basically not worrying at all. And that'll be Weimann's last contribution: Aleksander Tonev comes on to replace him.
70 min Westwood takes Villa's sixth corner after Gerrard cleared a cross from Luna. He picks out Benteke, who timed his run perfectly, stalling for just a second to lose Toure. Benteke connects with a powerful header that flies just over the bar.
69 min Aspas, the quietest of Liverpool's front four, comes off for Cissokho.
68 min The ball flashes dangerously across goal from Henderson's low cross but nobody's there to poke it into the unguarded net.
66 min Agony for Villa, who can't quite find an opening. Luna aims a cross in from the left, Benteke can't find a way through, Agbonlahor squares for Al Ahmadi, whose shot is eventually blocked. Liverpool were in tatters there but Villa couldn't capitalise.
65 min Luna runs at full speed down the left touchline. Johnson wanders over to intercept and taps the ball out of play. Lowton comes off for Karim Al Ahmadi.
63 min Al Ahmadi is preparing to come on. Before he can come on, some of Paul Lambert's underlings have some bits of paper which they urgently need to show him. Diagrams, I reckon. Al Ahmadi has a good squint at the diagrams (I reckon) and nods seriously.
61 min Lowton crashes into Coutinho enthusiastically as the Braziilan pulls of a cute first-time pass. With over with the ball already out of the picture, Coutinho hits the turf. Lowton goes into the book.
60 min A Villa counter-attack ends with Westwood blasting over from 20 yards. A bit more intensity from them now and the crowd-noise is dialled up a few notches. Paul Lambert is going crazy on the touchline. A minute or so later the home side wins a corner; nothing comes of it.
58 min Akora tries to solve the problem of how to break down Liverpool by trying to thread a very ambitious through the defence for Weimann. Straight to Enrique.
56 min Bacuna's effort flies into the wall, then the ball bounces around for a bit in moderately threatening territory but nothing too exciting happens.
55 min Agbonlahor wins a free kick for Villa, 25 yards out, when Henderson brings him down to end a promising run. Bacuna will take the free-kick.
53 min Agger flies full-on into Brad Guzan as they compete for a high ball. They were both airborne as they went for that one and both went down in some pain. No real malice from either party, just an admirable disregard for personal safety.
52 min Lowton, who has clearly been asked to get forward at every opportunity, is again the man trying to instigate an attack for Villa, but his pass is intercepted. At the other end, Vlaar does well to clear a cross from Sturridge, who beat Luna for pace in the inside-right channel.
50 min Not very good from Agbonlohor on the left flank, sending an infield pass meant for Bacuna straight to Lucas. But he wins it back and finds Benteke, who neatly turns Toure just inside the box. Didn't manage to keep control of the ball, though.
49 min Villa try to work up some mischief on the right flank, with Bacuna and Lowton exchanging passes, but they are still struggling to get the ball through the Liverpool midfield.
47 min Beautiful pass from Lowton. His weighted chip just eludes Enrique and Weimann beats the full-back to it. A rare moment of penetration for Villa but Liverpool deal with Weimann's cross easily enough.
HALF TIME
That was altogether too easy for Liverpool. For most of that half they simply outclassed their hosts: their pressing was too urgent, their attacking play too inventive and precise. There were a few signs of life from Villa towards the end, though, so perhaps the second half will be more competitive. After all, for all their dominance, Liverpool just scored the one - Daniel Sturridge's superbly taken effort.
Here's Sturridge doing some levitating.
Graeme Whittaker is more optimistic, though not much more. "It's much to early in the season to believe that this can happen this year but we have a better chance than for a long time and if Luis Suarez stays and is focussed it might just happen."
Fair enough. Certainly it would look like an impossibility were Suarez to leave.
45 min+2 The ball is thumped into the mixer. Vlaar gets on the end of it but can't get the ball under control.
45 min+1 Glenn Johnson goes into the book for an unnecessary foul on Benteke on the left touchline.
44 min Suddenly Liverpool are under a bit of pressure. The penalty area is full of white shirts hacking at the ball, with Toure in particular looking kind of out of his depth as he tries and fails to get the ball clear. The ball falls to Weimann, whose shot is deflected over the bar with Mignolet wrong-footed.
41 min Westwood aims a corner - the first of the game - towards the back post. Benteke controls, and shows his strength when Toure tries to get to the ball. This Ivorian, not what you'd call a small man, pretty much just bounces off. He herds Benteke to the corner of the box, where the striker turns and unleashes a fierce shot towards the bottom corner. Saved, but the first moment of real threat from the home side.
39 min Delph is pulled up for a foul on Sturridge in midfield. He goes in the book for that - a pointless needling stab in the back of the leg after Sturridge turned him. He's turned into a really good footballer, Sturridge, but you can see why people might feel like fouling him sometimes.
36 min A brief spell of possession for Villa as Liverpool's intensity wanes for a second, but the home side still aren't looking threatening.
34 min Luna pulls the ball back from the left touchline to Christian Benteke, on the corner of the penalty area. He's has a bit of space so this is a tiny window of opportunity for Villa, but his touch lets him down and the ball rolls away from danger.
We've got a good team this year and people think we've got no chance, thats a good thing. We will sneak third while nobody is looking.
32 min A rare shot for Villa, as Agbonlahor drops deep to collect the ball and feeds it upfield for Bacuna. The Dutch midfielder cuts infield from the left and lets fly from distance, but it's skewed well wide. A minute or so earlier, Aspas went into the book for a foul on Delph.
31 min Henderson swings one across for Sturridge but his cross is easily picked up by Guzan.
28 min Lowton tries to feed the ball through to Weimann on the right but it's cut out by Enrique.
26 min Villa still unable to get into this, Liverpool are too tidy with the ball and too aggressive without it. Villa are picking up the ball so deep even escaping their half is a serious operation. Delph tries to force his way through midfield but Henderson is onto him in a flash to win the ball back.
23 min A fine goal from Sturridge and Liverpool deserve their lead.
19 min The first break in ages for Villa, with the ball falling to Benteke in promising territory. He has little in the way of support, tough, and he's harried off the ball.
18 min It's been an impressive start from Liverpool, who without producing a single clear-cut chance have kept Villa pinned back against their own penalty area. Very little from this feted Villa side so far.
16 min Enrique bamboozles Bacuna by the Villa touchline, turning him inside out before knocking it back to Coutinho, who has found a little pocket of space on the edge of the box in that way of his. Westwood does well to close him off and the Brazilian's shot flies high and well wide.
13 min 70% possession for Liverpool so far. Villa haven't done anything much. They are trying to keep their shape and get the ball upfield to Benteke ASAP, but so far it hasn't really worked; of the last two long-balls aimed at him, one was over-hit and he couldn't control the other. Still, as tactics go, "give it to Christian Benteke" has got a lot going for it.
12 min Coutinho backheels to Henderson, who tries to steer one around the back of the Villa defence to Sturridge. His outside-of-the-foot cross is ambitious but not all that threatening.
10 min Sturridge brings down a crossfield pass from Enrique but can't do anything with it and Luna clears up for Villa.
8 min Liverpool are seeing most of the ball, but Villa are looking organised in defense. Agbonlahor slides in intercept Glenn Johnson in a dangerous positon in Villa's half and Villa try to break at speed, but the move is shut down before it gets going.
6 min Gerrard aims a high, looping pass over the top to Henderson, who has charged into the box from midfield. Okore heads clear.
4 min Weimann chips a hopeful ball over the top for Benteke, who goes shoulder to shoulder with Kolo Toure. The defender does just enough to shepherd him away from danger. Benteke eventually finds Agbonlahor, whose shot goes straight at Mignolet.
3 min Sturridge intercepts a pass in midfield, skips past a challenge and 25 yards out he's got his eye on goal already. Vlaar is sharp on his toes, though, and slides in to dispossess him. Then Aspas crosses from the right, but Guzan cuts it out.
1 min Villa have the first attack of the game, with Agbonlahor storming through the Liverpool at warp-speed before falling over. Then Luna runs the ball out of play on the left.
17.29 The players are out. The TV cameras is focusing on Christian Benteke, who has scored three in two so far this season and also bagged three in two matches against Liverpool last year. He is wearing what's known by sports psychologists and other experts as a Game Face.
17.25 Now, I know this is a bit serious, and deviating somewhat from the subject of this live-blog, but here's a question anyway: would people on Twitter be using the same kind of language to describe Okore if he were white?
17.18 Lots of people on Twitter are saying excited things about Aston Villa's Ivorian 21-year old defender, saying things like "animal," "tank," "beast," and "snap Aspas like a twig." Here is Jores Okore in action against Chelsea the other day.
17.14 The Liverpool team is the same as the one that played Stoke last weekend, while there are two changes from Paul Lambert. 22 year-old midfielder Leandro Bacuna comes in for El Ahmadi, and Jores Okore makes his full debut, replacing the injured Ciaran Clark.
17.02 Leaving this match for a moment and moving instead to Quite Interesting Statistics From Other Matches: Stoke attempted 42 long balls and 26 crosses in their 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace, and two of Palace's back four didn't win a single header.
16.55 Looking at a selection of unspecified bookies shows that Liverpool are reckoned to be pretty big favourites for this one. Well I'm surprised, I must say. Not so surprised I'll be selling my house to put everything I have on Villa (I don't have a house, duh) but still, a bit surprised.
16.35 Good afternoon, readers, and welcome. Are you having a nice day? I do hope so. Make yourselves at home.
Well, that's the niceties done with. Phew!
Tough match to call, this one. Villa were unlucky to lose to Chelsea in their second game of the season, and they were highly impressive beating Arsenal a few days earlier. Agbonlahor is playing as well as he ever has, Benteke is still awesome (how did Villa manage to hold of that guy over the summer?), and Fabian Delph has proved that he's more than just a weird name. Talented young lads, smart manager, et cetera and all the rest of it. They'll be tough to beat.
Liverpool, meanwhile, were good but hardly scintillating in their 1-0 victory against Stoke, and the intervening week has been a disappointing one. I don't know how good this Willian chap is at playing football, but he's certainly doing a valuable service as a gauge of the relative power of English football teams in 2013. The readings from the Willian-ometer are in, and they're not pretty for Liverpool. The fact that Chelsea now look likely to sign the Brazilian (if only to spite Spurs, let's be honest) will do little to reduce the pain of being snubbed.
And bitey Suarez is still banned, of course. Still, with Sturridge and Coutinho up front this side will cause anyone problems.
TEAM NEWS (disclaimer: this team-news comes from Twitter, so it might be wrong. I give no assurances about where it's been.)
LIVERPOOL: Mignolet, Johnson, Toure, Agger, Enrique, Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Coutinho, Aspas, Sturridge. Subs: Jones, Alberto, Cissokho, Allen, Borini, Sterling, Wisdom
VILLA: Guzan; Lowton, Okore, Vlaar, Luna; Bacuna, Westwood, Delph; Agbonlahor, Benteke, Weimann. Subs: Steer, Clark, El Ahmadi, Helenius, Herd, Sylla, Tonev
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