Match Centre: Aston Villa v Liverpool

Full-time: Aston Villa 0 - 1 Liverpool

The whistle goes and Liverpool finish 2009 with a result that will bring encouragement to Rafa Benitez’s side and the Liverpool faithful. Martin O'Neill looks on the brink of tears, as do the lot of Villa fans. Liverpool did not deserve three points tonight, but good sides manage to find a way to win when seemingly impossible. Aston Villa had the better chances, and they looked the favourite to snatch a late winner at the end. But that is the beauty of football. On a snowy pitch, the unpredictability of the beautiful game was exemplified. Players like Brad Friedel, Richard Dunne, Gabriel Agbonlahor, and Stuart Downing gave admirable efforts tonight for the Villains, but in the end it was the spectacular Spaniard Fernando Torres, who scored his 50th Premier League goal tonight. None of those other 49 goals may prove to be more important than his injury time strike tonight.

93º GOAL!!! Aston Villa 0 - 1 Liverpool!! Torres steals three points for Liverpool! A crunching Villa tackle deflects the ball straight into Torres’ path, and the Liverpool striker does well to place his shot past Friedel into the side netting of the far post.

91º Corner for Villa. Carragher clears, but Aston Villa pushing Liverpool to the limit in these closing minutes.

90º Four minutes of added time. Golden chance for Villa now as Skrtel fouls Milner from just outside the corner of the box.

89º Johnson off, Skrtel on. Insua has a hopeful shot from 30 yards out that goes well wide.

88º Agbonlahor with another near post effort, but Reina is equal to it.

86º Glen Johnson with a good challenge on Agbonlahor, but he goes down injured. Looks like he just rolled his ankle. With Reina changing boots earlier on and now this, we’re going to have quite a bit of added time.

84º Dirty play at the moment as both teams try desperately to get something from this match.

82º Intensity building in the last 10 minutes. Liverpool finally looking up for it. Gerrard tries one of his signature 30 yard curlers, but he couldn’t get the contact he was looking for as the ball sails wide left.

81º Insua wins Liverpool a corner. It’s taken short. Open play results in a foul on Torres in Villa’s corner. Villa do well to clear the Liverpool free-kick.

80º Steve Sidwell is coming on for Stuart Downing. Downing has a good game, his first half-volley still the best effort of the match thus far.

77º And Aquilani is coming off for Dutch rapper Ryan Babel

75º Nervy spell for both sides as Aston Villa and Liverpool realize this game could go either way.

73º Controversy! Insua heads it away, but the replay shows the ball flicked off his hand. No penalty given though. Aston Villa clearly having a dominant spell none the less.

72º Nigel Reo-Coker now being subbed off for Marc Albrighton.

70º Reina saves Liverpool again. Poor defending from Carragher as Agbonlahor smashes an effort near post. Villa corner. Golden chance from Carew on the corner, but the Norway striker’s effort goes just wide.

68º Far less chances in the second half, but far more intensity from the crowd. Milner wins another corner for Aston Villa.

67º Half-chances going back and forth between sides, but neither squad playing with real class.

64º Aquilani takes the free-kick, and goes up and over Friedel’s bar. Decent effort.

62º Cuellar tackles Gerrard, and Liverpool have yet another golden free-kick opportunity, this time from a central position 27 yards out.

61º No one looking happy as we pass the hour mark. Milner swings in a well-weighted cross, but Carragher heads clear.

58º Glen Johnson with a nice skill on the right flank. Then Torres tries to emulate the English defender with a few skills of his own, but loses the ball.

56º No rhythm. A scrappy start. Passes are going astray constantly. Neither team looks like a top four side. Then again, it’s tough to play good football in these conditions.

53º Pepe Reina decides he doesn’t like his boots, so the ref stops the game. Villa fans are furiously booing this stoppage as Reina puts his new kicks on.

48º Milner wins a corner.

47º Aquilani smiles after slipping and scuffing his cross into row Z of the Villa end.

46º After coming out from the warm dressing rooms, the squads are back hopping around trying to stay warm in these frigid conditions.

Half-time: Neither team really had the upper hand as both sides had good chances. It must be said that Stuart Downing came the closest with his wonderful left-footed volley. This game has too much tempo to finish nil-nil in my opinion, and the snow is definitely producing some mistakes. It could be that one mistake loses the game for either side, but as it stands we are rightfully on even ground.

45º One minute of added time. Mistake by Dunne as he tries heading it back to Friedel, and thankfully the American is quick off his line to clear because Torres was ready to pounce.

43º Lucas now finds himself in the book for a late tackle on Agbonlahor.

41º Richard Dunne goes into the book for crashing into Lucas. Dunne tossed Lucas in the air like a rag doll. Well in.

39º James Milner gets the better of Glen Johnson with a silky move, then crosses it to John Carew, who heads it straight into Reina.

36º Half-chance for Torres as he nods it into Friedel from close range after the ball bounced around dangerously in Villa’s box.

32º Carew scuffs a shot to the right of Reina’s net.

30º Milner rips in a corner, Stuart Downing his completely unmarked back post. Reina robs Downing’s powerful left-footed volley, pushing it out for another corner.

29º Petrov with a classy effort! Reo-Coker chips in for Petrov, who controls it with his chest and his back to goal, then trying a spectacular overhead kick. The result goes well over the bar. It looked nice though. Would have been a top-class goal.

27º Liverpool with a tricky free-kick. A few Liverpool touches before Gerrard takes a powerful strike, but Carew knocks it out for another Liverpool corner.

26º Benayoun suffers a late challenge from Luke Young. Free-kick to Liverpool from 25 yards out. Golden chance.

24º Milner with a good left-footed effort from distance. Reina sees it all the way and handles cooly.

21º Aston Villa looking outclassed at the moment, but the Villa faithful continue to push their team forward.

20º Another Villa pass goes astray, as the snow really is playing a role tonight.

19º Liverpool on top at the moment, but Lucas drives the ball straight out of bounds.

18º The corner meets Benayoun, who hits it on the half-volley. Friedel collects once again.

17º Brilliant effort and Brilliant save! Torres lays it for Gerrard, who curls it from 20 yards towards the top corner of Freidel’s net. The American does well to parry it over for a corner.

16º Gerrard’s effort deflects wide, Liverpool corner. Villa desperate to clear, and they do so well enough.

15º Aquilani nutmegs Petrov, winning a free-kick 35 yards out.

14º Downing swings in a corner far post, Dunne tries knocking the corner down for Carew, but Reina reacts swiftly.

13º Lucas goes for placement on the ensuing corner, but Luke Young wasn’t having any of that. Carew counters and wins Villa a corner at the opposite end.

12º A white Tuesday is almost as good as a white Christmas, right? We’re certainly getting our fair share of snow tonight. Both teams playing positive, attacking football as Kuyt wins a corner for Liverpool.

10º James Milner counters after a dangerous sequence of passing by Liverpool. Torres looked sloppy for Liverpool to be honest.

6º Liverpool corner. Carlos Cueller deflected a Liverpool cross out for Liverpool’s first corner of the night.

3º Downing with an early long-range effort, but it is deflected. Snow coming down in Birmingham tonight, meaning extremely slippery conditions for the players.

2º Villa corner.

1º And we’re off!

The players are taking to the pitch at Villa Park. We’re moments away.

Line-ups:

Aston Villa:

Agbonlahor Carew.

Milner   Reo-Coker   Petrov  Downing

Luke Young   Cuellar   Dunne   Warnock

Friedel

Subs: Guzan, Sidwell, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Delph, Beye, Collins.

Liverpool:

Torres Gerrard

Benayoun  Lucas  Aquilani Kuyt

Insua   Carragher   Agger    Johnson

Reina

Subs: Cavalieri, Aurelio, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Ngog, Spearing, Skrtel.

Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire)

Pregame:

Liverpool have lost four out of their last six away games in the league. Villa need a response too, after succumbing 3-0 at Arsenal a couple of days ago. But what a cameo that was, from the magnificent Cesc Fabregas.

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill: “We played very well at Anfield earlier on in the season and it gave us plenty of confidence and impetus. But these are different circumstances. This is a very big game for both teams - we had a setback at Arsenal and we want to put that right, Liverpool have had hiccups this season and they will want to put that right.”

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez: “It’s very, very important. There is still a long way but we have to look for three points. They are in a good position and are competing with them, Tottenham and Manchester City at the moment. We have to keep winning.”