Reds romp ruins Houllier return

Liverpool romped to a 3-0 win over Aston Villa to spoil Gerard Houllier's return to Anfield.

The former Reds boss was making his first return as a manager but his depleted side were outclassed by a home team that were not at full strength themselves.

Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard are injured while Fernando Torres was unable to play as his wife had gone into labour but David Ngog and Ryan Babel impressed in his absence.

Ngog opened the scoring in the 14th minute with his eighth of the season and his first in 13 games before strike partner Babel struck just two minutes later.

Joe Reina denied Gabriel Agbonlahor from a rare Villa chance just after the restart and moments later Maxi Rodriguez sealed victory with a neat finish in the 55th minute.

The Reds eased home to claim their fourth straight Premier League win at Anfield and climb up to eighth - their highest position of the season so far - while Villa remain 16th, just two points above the drop zone.

The clean sheet was also Reina's 100th in 198 league matches for Liverpool, breaking the previous record held by Reds great Ray Clemence, who took 217 games to reach the landmark.

While Ngog and Babel will have gained plenty of confidence from their performances, Raul Meireles too will have been encouraged as he continued his extended run in the centre of midfield in Gerrard's absence and the summer signing was involved in most of the hosts' good play.

Dirk Kuyt volleyed wide in the third minute after Ngog's two headers from Meireles' right-wing free-kick were not cleared, and set-pieces were a weakness for Villa all night.

They were undone by another in the 14th minute as Meireles' right-wing corner picked out Martin Skrtel, who speared a header back across goal and the diving Ngog could not fail to nod in from barely three yards.

Two minutes later Liverpool had doubled their lead with Babel justifying manager Roy Hodgson's faith to select him up front.

The Dutchman has consistently failed to impress since his £11.5million move from Ajax in 2007 but his goal was an example of the talent at his disposal, which some would argue he has wasted.

Playing on the shoulder of Stephen Warnock, Babel allowed Lucas Leiva's lofted ball to drop out to his right and he swivelled to steer a shot across Brad Friedel and inside the far post.

Sotirios Kyrgiakos directed a far-post header wide from Meireles' 27th minute free-kick while Babel curled a first-time shot just wide of Friedel's left-hand post from the Portugal international's low cross.

Villa had one chance to get back in the game just after half-time but Agbonlahor's close-range shot from Stewart Downing's cross was blocked by Reina and Paul Konchesky cleared the rebound.

And moments later a disappointing night would get worse for Houllier, who was welcomed back by a banner on the Kop which read 'Gerard's Heart Beats'.

Reina collected a Downing cross and rolled the ball 30 yards down the middle of the pitch to Maxi, who offloaded to Ngog out on the left and then perfectly timed his run into the box to side-foot home the return pass and round off a brilliant counter-attack.

The Argentina winger looks increasingly at home on the left and, having scored just one goal in five months since joining last January, he now has three in his last seven matches.

Ex-Liverpool goalkeeper Friedel prevented a fourth, turning Glen Johnson's shot wide after the England right-back had weaved his way into the area, while Kyrgiakos' header from Meireles' corner was cleared off the line by Jonathan Hogg as Liverpool eased home.

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.