Christian Benteke's 18th goal of the campaign has given Aston Villa a 1-0 advantage heading into the break of their Premier League encounter against Liverpool at Villa Park.

The first real chance of the half went the way of the visitors with eight minutes on the clock. Full-back Glen Johnson played a reverse pass to Luis Suarez inside the area, but the Uruguayan failed to find the target from 10 yards out.

It wasn't until the 16th minute that Villa created their first goalscoring chance, but when they did, Gabriel Agbonlahor failed to convert from close range.

Matthew Lowton picked out the striker with a low cross from deep, only for Pepe Reina to block his strike from six yards out.

Agbonlahor managed to atone for that miss, though, in the 30th minute. He played a lofted pass from Ashley Westwood into the path of Benteke, who instantly beat Reina with a low drive from the edge of the area.

Liverpool's best chance of an equaliser fell to leading goalscorer Suarez, but having capitalised on a defensive error by Barry Bannan to go through on goal in the 41st minute, he was unable to beat Brad Guzan from close range.