Villa are left to rue lost opportunity at Anfield

PUT that one down as a missed opportunity.

- By JOHN TOWNLEY

Before this matchweek, Villa had won six of their last seven games, while Liverpool had lost six of their last seven in all competitions. Indeed, no side had won more than Villa's four in a row in the league, and no team was on a longer losing streak than Liverpool.

'Doctor Aston Villa will see you now,' was a comment from our Claret & Blue Fanzone show, which I remembered while driving up to Merseyside earlier on Saturday afternoon. I think that was everyone's fear - that Villa would give the Reds a helping hand in returning to form.

After beating Tottenham and Manchester City in their last two league games, it would feel disingenuous to criticise Villa after losing at Anfield.

Yet how they succumbed to defeat is bitterly disappointing.