A 5-0 Knockout Blow for Aston Villa as Liverpool Keep Manchester United Worried

"We have two tough fixtures coming up and if we deliver a performance of the season in one of them, it could catapult us to a good finish."

The words of Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry, speaking to English tabloid Daily Star ahead of their all important Premier League clash against Liverpool.

It certainly was a "performance of the season" in the 4pm kick-off at Anfield, although not the one Barry had hoped for.

Liverpool were absolutely sincilating for the 90 minutes as Aston Villa were battered, bruised, and sent down to ten men as they saw UEFA Champions League hopes walk straight on past.

And as for the Liverpool steamroller, Manchester United and their fans the world over will be worried, as another mistake will let Liverpool straight in and on course for a potential first Premier League title in 19 years.

The Sunday afternoon encounter in which audiences across the globe eagerly anticipated following a string of surprising results the day before, finished 5-0 to Liverpool, just in case you somehow didn't know.

Arsenal fans will be happy at this result, as they saw their rivals for fourth place in the Premier League get battered, bruised, raped, destroyed, humiliated, etc, etc. There's a whole load one could say about how the not-so mighty Villans got treated.

For the sake of Liverpool and Arsenal fans, and anyone else who happened to enjoy this astonishing result, here's a low-down of all the main action that took place in front of the 44,131 ecstatic/miserable fans at Anfield:

• 8 minutes - perfect start for Liverpool as flying Dutchman Dirk Kuyt fires the Reds into the lead. A Steven Gerrard free-kick is met by Xabi Alonso, with the Spaniard's header hitting the bar and rebounding out for Kuyt who drives it home past a bundle of players. 1-0 LIVERPOOL.
• 33 minutes - a massive boot upfield by Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina catches out the sleepy Aston Villa defence, allowing yet another Spaniard, Albert Riera, to let rip with a left-footed effort that flies in off the crossbar from just inside the area. 2-0 LIVERPOOL.
• 39 minutes - Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard sends Aston Villa keeper Brad Friedel the wrong way, as he drives the ball into the bottom righthand corner, after Nigel Reo-Coker gave away a penalty for a totally mis-timed challenge on Riera. 3-0 LIVERPOOL.
• 50 minutes - nightmare start for Aston Villa, as Gerrard claims his second after side-footing low past Friedel. 4-0 LIVERPOOL.
• 64 minutes - RED CARD. Brad Friedel is off, after Fernando Torres seems through on goal after rounding the American goalkeeper, but is brought down.
• 65 minutes - knockout confirmed. Gerrard steps up to score his second penalty and secure a hat-trick as Liverpool send out a warning message to all other teams in world football. 5-0 LIVERPOOL.

So as you can see, it was a rout at Anfield, as Liverpool continue to pile the pressure on Manchester United, and help Arsenal deny Aston Villa claiming fourth spot.

There's always the next match for Gareth Barry and co. to have their "performance of the season".

Villa play away at a rather easy place, Old Trafford. It's only Manchester United, we have much more to play for than them. UEFA Champions League qualification surely wins over securing a Premier League title and a potential quintuple.

Considering Manchester United's current form, there might just be not as much satire in the above paragraph than you think.

United look weak at the minute, and although it's terribly unrealistic, the next time these two meet, Aston Villa quite possibly have a chance of turning in that "performance of the season".  

That is of course, if we try and forget about Aston Villa's current weaknesses, and of course Sunday's quite remarkable result.