Villans slain on Easter Sunday

It was a Happy Easter for Liverpool as they came back from behind to defeat relegation threatened Aston Villa 2-1 at Villa Park and keep alive their faint hopes of European qualification. After trailing to Christian Benteke's first half strike, rather than dropping their heads the Reds responded encouragingly, showing character to clinch all three points thanks to a clipped finish from Jordan Henderson and a well taken spot kick from skipper Steven Gerrard to reward a much improved second half display.

Desperate to keep pace with the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham and even Everton, Brendan Rodgers picked a strong side to take on Paul Lambert's men. Jamie Carragher returned to marshal the centre of defence, while Coutinho, Henderson and Downing provided a potent attacking triumvirate behind the industrious Luis Suarez and Gerrard and Lucas patrolled the midfield effectively once again, the captain particularly impressing.

Villa were the better side during the first half, however, and should have gained the lead after only a quarter of an hour. Matthew Lowton's superb swerving cross found Agbonlahor in the six-yard box. Fortunately, the forward's effort was beaten away by Reina. Suarez then saw his strike tipped over by Guzan, before Agbonlahor dragged another shot wide at the other end soon after.

His strike partner Benteke, who single-handedly destroyed the Reds at Anfield in December of last year, displayed superior finishing skills as he became the Merseysiders' nemesis once again on the half hour mark. After Agbonlahor had flicked a header down to him, the 22-year old Belgian drilled home past Reina from the edge of the area to open the scoring.

Reina was forced into action to deny Benteke moments later as well, preventing his header from doubling the Midlanders' lead. Meanwhile, his American counterpart did well to stop Gerrard levelling just before half time, as the number eight smashed a strike at goal that moved in the air but was smartly punched away by the on-form Guzan.

He could do nothing to prevent Henderson equalising minutes after the restart, though. Coutinho, who has been a revelation since signing from Inter Milan in January, played a precise through ball into the path of the on-rushing Henderson, who retained his composure and expertly lifted the ball over Guzan and into the net before celebrating in front of an ecstatic travelling Kop.

Henderson wheels off in celebration after equalising

In the absence of Sturridge, who was left on the bench, Coutinho was the Reds' main midfield playmaker, linking up with Suarez superbly. The Brazilian is the type of signing that Rodgers will have to continue making  to demonstrate to Suarez that progress is being made and encourage him to stick with his project. On 56 minutes, Suarez set up Coutinho, putting him through one-on-one with the keeper. Unfortunately, his shot went agonisingly wide of the far post.

As Liverpool cranked up the pressure, Johnson's shot smashed against the post, before Baker blatantly and ludicrously felled Suarez in the area to gift the visitors a penalty. Gerrard made no mistake from the penalty spot, stroking the ball just past the grasp of Guzan and into the bottom left corner to reach double figures in a season for the eighth time. Captain fantastic then pulled off some heroics at the other end as well five minutes later, amazingly heading off the goal line to prevent Benteke equalising for Villa with a headed effort from a corner.

Gerrard's goal line clearance was as good as a goal

Benteke may have had the ball in the back of the net during injury time, but it was rightly ruled out for offside and Liverpool held on to claim three much welcome Premier League points from a potentially tricky fixture. Villa may have begun in the ascendancy, but Liverpool thankfully weathered the storm and displayed character to work their way back into the game and clinch the win thanks to two goals during a 15-minute second half spell in which they dominated.

Liverpool will need to replicate this performance in upcoming matches away to Reading and Newcastle if they are to end the season well and push for European qualification right up until the last day of the campaign. 

HAPPY EASTER, YNWA