[Mighty T.A.L.]

Aston Villa 0-0 Liverpool

Liverpool were held to a goalless draw by Aston Villa in a lackadaisical encounter at Villa Park in the Premiership this afternoon.

The visitors enjoyed the majority of possession and made an encouraging start to the game but it soon turned into a bitty affair with chances at a premium.

Liverpool's best chance came in the 89th minute when substitute Robbie Fowler saw a close range header turned around the post by goalkeeper Thomas Sorenson.

Rafael Benitez handed Javier Mascherano a start in the centre of midfield alongside Momo Sissoko with Steven Gerrard on the right and Fabio Aurelio on the left. Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt were partnered in attack.

Steve Finnan, Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger and John Arne Riise made up the back four with Pepe Reina in goal.

Liverpool created a good opening early on when Riise's cross from the left was met by the head of the unmarked Kuyt, eight yards out. However, the Dutchman appeared to misjudge his attempt and the ball went high and wide. Earlier, Riise had stung the palms of Sorenson with a powerful effort from distance.

Villa's defence looked uncomfortable in the opening stages and Bellamy almost made them pay for the hesitancy between goalkeeper and defender when he raced onto a long ball that he really shouldn't have gotten too but Sorenson managed to get a block in as the Welsh striker attempted to round him.

The home team thought that they should have been awarded a penalty at the end of the first half when Stilian Petrov claimed he was tripped by Carragher inside the box following a goal mouth scramble.

Benitez decided to move Gerrard into a more central role at the start of the second period, with Kuyt mo ving out wide, but game was devoid of any real quality in the final third.

Olof Mellberg headed straight at Reina from a Villa free-kick in what was to be the first and only save the Spanish custodian would have to make all afternoon while, at the other end, Gerrard drilled wide from 20 yards.

Villa introduced ex-Red Patrik Berger into the fray towards the end and the Czech forward tried his luck on three occasions from distance without hitting the target.

With a minute to go Fowler, on for Gerrard, combined with another substitute Jermaine Pennant but his close range header was turned around the post by a good save from Sorenson.

Afterwards, Benitez said: "I think the only positive is that we got a point. When you don't play well and can't win the game then it's important to take a point.

"It's clear that it wasn't a good game and we weren't able to create chances. We wanted to start with a high tempo but it didn't happen.

"Robbie almost scored at the end but it wasn't to be. Sometimes when you don't play well it takes just one moment to win it and Robbie came close.

"We talked before the game about winning and that was our aim. We knew Bolton had lost and we knew we could have gone nine points ahead of them if we'd won. We'll have to wait until the end of the season to see how important this point is, but it's clear it wasn't a good game for either side."

Source: shanklygates.co.uk