Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that he set up his side to play tightly due to Aston Villa's threat on the counter-attack.

Rodgers's side won 1-0 for the second consecutive Premier League game to temporarily move second in the league table.

"We just needed to defend a bit deeper today, Aston Villa are brilliant on the counter and we had to deny them chances," BBC Sport quotes Rodgers as saying. "It's a great win for us because they are such a difficult team to play against.

"We were calm on the ball in the first half, our movement was fluent and very good and we knew we couldn't open up too much because they would hurt us on the counter."

Liverpool face Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday in their next league game.