Villa manager Martin O’Neill believes his side were well worth the win after ending an amazing 31-match unbeaten league run by Liverpool at Anfield dating back to December 2007.

The celebrations in manager Martin O’Neill’s camp were in direct contrast to the grumbling and recriminations they left for their hosts to deal with, as Reds’ fans saw this reverse as already putting their team’s title hopes in doubt.

That kind of early “rush to judgement” about his own Villa side has irritated O’Neill, who clearly savoured the victory. He watched as the claret and blues went two-up at the break, through a Lucas own goal and a header from Curtis Davies.

Torres pulled one back in the second-half, but Steven Gerrard’s lunge at Nigel Reo-Coker conceded a spot-kick that Ashley Young confidently drove home.

O’Neill said: “That was a terrific effort from my team. At 2-0 we were in reasonable command of the game, although you are never in command at Anfield.

“But when they scored we got a penalty straightaway, a clean penalty, and we were back with our two goal lead.

“I always felt that this team had another goal in them – and the way we have been defending lately, probably felt we might need it.

“But you are unlikely to keep Liverpool out for 90 minutes in front of the Kop. That penalty gave us confidence, discipline and shape to our team and we deserved to win.

“Our goalkeeper Brad Friedel was outstanding. He rolled back the years. He was fantastic against his old club to perform like that at Anfield.

“He will be delighted with himself, and rightly so, and we are delighted with him.”

“It was a fantastic performance from the whole side and we fully deserved the victory.”

Incredibly, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez found himself having to defend his team’s title prospects following two defeats in the first three games of the season.

Relating to their latest setback, the Reds boss pointed to his players making elementary errors.

He said: “In the first 20 minutes we created plenty of chances and played well. Then we conceded the own goal and started to make more mistakes.

“We have lost and we know we have to improve. I felt we had a chance when Fernando Torres scored, but the penalty finished it. It was a clear penalty. We were not playing well, and we were up against a team who are excellent on the counter-attack.

“Their goalkeeper Brad Friedel  made some great saves, but when that happens we just have to make more chances.

“This squad is virtually the same as last season, so I believe it is good enough to mount a title challenge. But we must do more, we must win at Bolton.

“We will have to sit down and analyse every player now, and make sure we do the right things in our next match, but our senior players must take more responsibility.

“Now we know that we have to go to Bolton on Saturday and win. Everything could change if we do that, our confidence will improve.”