Match Reports
Liverpool 1-3 Aston Villa Liverpool slipped to their second defeat in a row following a poor performance at Anfield. Both sides had equal possession in the first half, but without a real clear cut opportunity for themselves, Liverpool went into the half time interval 1-0 down. The visitor's goal came on 23 minutes, when a cross into the area found the head of Dion Dublin, whose header was aimed into the top corner, well out of the reach of debutant Jerzy Dudek. It was a largely a scrappy 45 minutes and one which referee Andy D'Urso felt he had to stop at every possible opportunity. The second half looked likely to produce a far better display from Liverpool after a first 5 minutes which saw them pin Villa back into their penalty area almost constantly, and it was in that period when Gerrard put Liverpool back on level terms. a 46th minute cross by McAllister was headed back across goal from close range by Gerrard, and the ball made it's way past a couple of players on the goalline. At that point, the game looked set to be going Liverpool's way and it seemed only a matter of time before the next goal would come for the home side. But the Liverpool defence were caught out at the back after a Villa counter attack, and despite Dublin completely missing the ball when aiming to shoot, the danger was not dealt with and Lee Hendrie had time and space to fire home Villa's second, and what turned out to be the eventual winner. The defeat is likely to be blamed on the absence of many Liverpool players due to International matches, but ironically it was one of thos who played most of England's last 2 matches, Steve Gerrard, who was the best performer for the Reds. Gerrard once again played his heart out and his determination to win every ball in midfield eventually got the better of him as he was dismissed for a late challenge on George Boateng. Darius Vassell made the result safe on 86 minutes, and despite playing almost eight minutes of injury time, Liverpool could do nothing do prevent their worst performance for a long while and the first time they have conceded 3 goals at home for two years. View match pictures from this game!
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