Christian Benteke doubled the Villians’ lead but goals from Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard meant that the spoils were shared.
Liverpool was looking uncomfortable defensively from the first whistle with Villa enjoying the better of the possession in the opening moments of the game.
Daniel Sturridge found space on the edge of the box and tried to curl one from the edge of the box, but his effort failed to hit the target.
In the 24th minute, the visitors came inches from Villa inches from taking the lead at Ciaran Clark headed against the post with a free header from a corner.
The Villians’ persistence paid off and they deservingly took the lead when Andreas Weimann tapped in Gabriel Agbonlahor’s ball. The latter skipped past Kolo Toure before whipping in a ball for the finish.
Christian Benteke then made it 2-0 just ten minutes from the break after he headed home a loose ball which Simon Mignolet failed to clear away from Agbonlahor’s initital shot.
Liverpool should have pulled a goal back when Luis Suarez beat two defenders before laying off a ball to Aly Cissoko. The Frenchman sliced his shot horribly wide of the target, leaving Suarez fuming as his work went to waste.
But the deficit did eventually get halved when Daniel Sturridge scored on the brink of the interval when he flicked in Jordon Henderson’s ball over Brad Guznan.
Liverpool did make a comeback seven minutes after the restart when a penalty was given to Luis Suarez despite the minimal contact. Steven Gerrard converted on the spot to make it 2-2.
Lucas only came onto the field on the hour mark but lasted just five minutes after he suffered a knock to the knee which forced him to be replaced by Joe Allen.
In the closing stages of the game, Suarez struck a great effort from 35-yards out and his free-kick flew on the wrong side of the post with Guzan beaten.
MTNFootball.com
