Liverpool Beat Aston Villa 3-0 To Hand Houllier an Unwelcome Return to Anfield

Last night Liverpool stretched their home winning record to five games in a row with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over former manager Gerard Houllier's new charges Aston Villa.

It was a much anticipated return for Houllier who enjoyed six years at Anfield during which time he won a marvellous cup treble in 2001 and won five trophies in six months in the same year.

The buildup for the game was centred around the news that Liverpool's star striker Fernando Torres would miss the game to be at the side of his wife Olalla, who had gone into labour. She later went on to give birth to a baby boy.

Torres' absence meant a recall to the starting lineup for Ryan Babel, who paired David Ngog in attack. With Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard also out injured, Pepe Reina was handed the captain's armband again.

Villa themselves have had injury problems all season and were missing the likes of Stiliyan Petrov, Nigel Reo-Coker and Steve Sidwell from the midfield, as well as Ashley Young through suspension.

The home side started brighter and almost took the lead on two occasions through set-pieces, firstly Dirk Kuyt volleying wide after Ngog knocked down the ball for him, before further set pieces caused havoc in the Villa penalty area.

Sotirios Kyrgiakos' and Martin Skrtel's aerial presence were causing severe panic in the Villa defence and the latter set up the opening goal less than a quarter of an hour into the game as he directed another set piece back across the face of the goal, French forward Ngog propelling himself through the air to head past ex-Red Brad Friedel in the Villa goal.

The Kop had barely finished cheering before Ngog's strike partner Ryan Babel made it 2-0 as he chased onto Lucas' through ball and beat another ex-Liverpool player, Villa defender Stephen Warnock, to the ball and volleyed into the far corner for a fine finish.

Liverpool dominated the remainder of the half and it was a damning indication of the task Houllier has to turn Villa around as Kyrgiakos went close with a header while Reina was largely untroubled.

At the break Houllier introduced young forward Nathan Delfouneso to add an extra threat up front but the first good chance of the half fell to Gabby Agbonlahor. His shot was well blocked from close range by Reina and from the ensuing counter-attack Liverpool made it three, Maxi and Ngog trading passes at pace down the left side before the Argentine side-footed coolly into the far corner.

Villa had more possession in the second half but rarely looked like beating Reina, who kept his 100th clean sheet in the league for the Reds, breaking yet another long-standing Liverpool record in the process.

As the game wore on, Liverpool introduced Fabio Aurelio and Joe Cole as they stepped up their rehabilitation after injuries, while young defender Martin Kelly was also given a run out in the centre of defence. Towards the end of the game Glen Johnson had three chances to add to Liverpool's tally, first from a solo winding run and then two shots hit off-target from close range. Kyrgiakos also had a header cleared off the line prior to being substituted.

The Kop sang out the name of ex-boss Houllier as he was afforded a welcome return, but that was undoubtedly of small comfort to him as his Villa side lay now just two points and two places above the relegation zone.

For Liverpool, it was another step towards where Hodgson hopes to take his team and another indication of the improved home form. Next up is Newcastle away, an opportunity to improve their woeful away record in the league under Hodgson.

Man of the Match—Lucas Leiva and Ryan Babel both put in very good performances.