Liverpool extended their unbeaten run to eight matches with an away win against Aston Villa on Saturday.
Fabio Borini and Rickie Lambert were on target as Liverpool grabbed their 3rd back-to-back away win in the league. Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert sees himself under more pressure as the home side have now failed to score for a fifth league game on the trot and they are now three points above the relegation zone.
After the victory, Brendan Rodgers was full of praise for his side, that was without captain Steven Gerrard. The Liverpool manager claimed that his side stood up to the challenge in a difficult game.
Rodgers said: “It was always going to be a difficult game. Aston Villa are a hard team to try to break down but we were very complete in our performance.
“We passed the ball around really well at times and our counter-attack was very good and we probably should have exploited that more than we did.
“Importantly, when we had to defend at important moments of the game we stood up to the challenge.”
On the other hand, losing manager Paul Lambert was happy with Aston Villaa s performances in the second half and he felt that Simon Mignolet kept Liverpool in the game with the save from Christian Benteke.
Lambert said: “The second half I thought we were excellent. I didn’t think there was too much in it in the first half.
“We lost a poor goal but the second half was relentless pressure from us and their goalkeeper has probably kept them in it with the save from Christian Benteke.
“We just have to keep doing what we did today, keep getting the chances and they will go in.”
Liverpool took the lead in the first half thanks to Fabio Borini, who scored his first goal of the season. The forward, who started up front because of Mario Balotellia s absence due to illness, tucked away Jordan Henderson’s pinpoint delivery from the edge of the six-yard box with 24 minutes on the clock. After the goal, Aston Villa did not pose a serious threat for the visitors in the first half.
Liverpool kept on attacking at the beginning of the second half as Henderson forced a fine save from Guzan after the keeper had tipped a header from Martin Skrtel on to a post. Aston Villa then added pressure on Liverpool as the home side were in search of the equaliser. However, Benteke had a well-struck half-volley saved by fellow Belgium international Simon Mignolet, while Baker headed a corner just over.
Benteke then also volleyed a shot wide before Lambert gave Liverpool a two goal advantage. Guzan tipped a Lucas Leiva shot to concede a corner. Lambert made it 2-0 after collecting Raheem Sterlinga s pass from a half-cleared corner and drove into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. The goal confirmed the victory for Liverpool and sees them sitting seventh in the league table with 35 points in the kitty.
