A lucky bounce has put a major dent in Aston Villa's Champions league ambitions and allowed Liverpool back into the race.
The game which had the makings of being a classic as Villa piled on early pressure in the driving snow, but as the contest wore on the teams cancelled each other out and it was apparent that only a mistake would break the deadlock, it certainly was not going to be referee Lee Probert, who refused both teams clear penalties and seemed to be systematically bottling out of contentious decisions.
The mistake finally came when Stephen Warnock played a pass into the path of Carols Cuellar, the Spaniard slipped and allowed Yossi Benayoun to break towards the box from the right wing, Agbonlahor put in a tackle he thought would guarantee the point but instead fell to Fernando Torres' right foot. Game Over.
Liverpool are now in seventh place (an achievement which only highlights how far they have fallen in the past 12 months) only four points behind Spurs who currently occupy 4th place and must visit Anfield when the premier league resumes after this weekends cup distractions.
The next five games will see Liverpool stumbling back into the top four race, after Spur's visit they have four tricky but very winnable games comprising of trips to stoke and wolves before ending January in the sanctuary of the Kop for meeting with Bolton and bitter rivals Everton.
Aston Villa and Tottenham will fall by the wayside, and a newly resolute Manchester City will be Rafa's main opposition to the Job saving Promised Land of fourth place in the league.
But as February rolls on Benitez will face Major tests first visiting the Emirates in a midweek encounter before the beginning of their Europa league assault against Unirea Urziceni sandwiches a vastly more important League meeting with Manchester City at Eastland's.
As Torres tucked his chance away in the 92nd minute my gut reaction was that this is the beginning of the scouse march to the champions league, but they will be desperate to win the FA cup along with the Europa League to salvage a dreadful season, but the fixture pile up will be too much for Rafa's poor squad, only an early exit from either European or domestic cup will allow them beat Mancini's Nouveau riche to Europe's biggest stage.
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