Liverpool 1-1 Aston Villa
A Dion Dublin penalty early in the second hald cancelled out Michael Owen's first half strike, as Liverpool's run of league games without a win continued.
Michael Owen started a game for the first time in 2003, while Neil Mellor and El Hadji Diouf also kept their places from the side which was beaten at Bramall Lane in midweek.
Despite Villa's poor away form all season which has seen them take fewer points than any other club in the league, they settled into the match very quickly and Dion Dublin could have opened the scoring in the first minute after he got himself o the end of Gareth Barry's well delivered cross, but put the ball narrowloy over the bar.
Dublin had another chance to score within 5 minutes, as he flicked Lee Hendrie's free kick over Kirkland, but Henchoz made a goalline clearance to prevent the visitors taking an early lead.
Diao and Mellor both went close for Liverpool with long range strikes, Diao missing the post by inches from 25 yards out, while Mellor forced Peter Enckleman into making a save.
The Reds were on top of the game for most of the half, and Owen should have done better from close range when he ran onto the end of an excellent ball into the area by Diao but fired into the side netting, and Riise came close with a volley from the edge of the 18 yard area which took a deflection before clipping the post with Enckelman beaten.
Liverpool's dominance paid off on 38 minutes though, as Michael Owen scored his first league goal since the win over West Ham in early November, finishing from a tight angle after the Diouf's cross appeared to have struck the arm of Mellberg. The ball dropped to Owen though and his excellent finish prevented referee Paul Durkin from having to deceide whether or not to give a penalty.
The first half ended on a slightly sour note though, as Chris Kirkland was fouled by Dion Dublin when claiming a cross played in from the left by Thomas Hitzelsberger, and which led to angry exchanges by Dublin and Smi Hyypia, who had earlier been elbowed in the face by the Villa striker when challenging for a header.
Durkin took a lenient approach and for the third time in the half, refused to issue Dublin with a yellow card despite having words with the Villa man, with Gareth Barry also lucky to escape being cautioned earlier in the half for a number of fouls early in the game including a blatant shove on Henchoz which left the Swiss international leaping intot he Kop to avoid clattering into the advertising hoardings.
With players from both sides extremely fired up by the incident involving Dublin, the closing couple of minutes saw a number of strong challenges flying in, as Durkin looked close to losing control of the game.
The half time whistle followed soon after though, and Liverpool's one goal lead was a fair reflection on the first 45 minutes of the match.
As they had done in the first half, Villa began the second half strongly, and could have been level within a couple of minutes of the restart.
Ian Taylor had the first chance, though his header was brilliantly turned away by Kirkland, who made another superb save monent later from a firece shot deom just outside the area by Hendrie, which Kirkland also kept hold of despite making the save at full stretch.
Villa did draw level on 49 minutes however, thanks to a Dion Dublin penalty after a rash challenge on Gareth Barry by Hyypia and Dublin should have scored a second of the afternoon when he found himself with a free header just 6 yards out which thankfully for Liverpool, he headed over the bar.
Danny Murphy twice went close with free kicks from almost identical positions just outside the area, and Steve Gerrard made sure that Enckelman was kept busy as he unleashed a ferocious drive from 25 yards for the Villa 'keeper had to be at his best to keep out, and Gerrard had Liverpool's final chance of the afternoon when his 30 yard volley flew just over the cross bar and onto the roof of the net.
Ultimiately though, Liverpool hadn't done enough to win the match, and it became the seventh Premiership home game of the season in which the Reds had failed to win, the same figure as the whole of last season.
The result saw Liverpool remain in 7th place in the league, though they're now only two points away from Blackburn in 10th place, and Liverpool must realistically get a result from next week's trip to Southampton if they're to avoid slipping further down the table and further away from the clubs who currently occupy the Champions League places.
