1-0

THE championship of English football is not lightly won or lost by the beginning of March. But the manner in which Liverpool went down so neatly at Villa Park yesterday, and the way Newcastle United had surrendered at home against Southampton on Saturday, suggests that the Premiership is Manchester United's unless the defending champions choose to lose it.

Not a striker by repute, but an honest toiler in the midfield, lan Taylor was Villa's match winner. There were seven minutes remaining and the game, played on a difficult, heavily sanded and rutted pitch, had reached a level of stalemate and mediocrity that must have made viewing an absolute relaxation to the Manchester United manager, Alex Ferguson.

Andy Townsend delivered a searching, accurate, driven centre that bisected Liverpool's central defenders, Mark Wright and Dominic Matteo. Behind them, unseen, unmarked and unhurried. Taylor came and he had the composure to cushion the ball on his left thigh and the time to use his right foot to hook it into the net.

In the beginning, everything had looked urgent. Three times. Mark Wright. who would be many people's choice as an England defender still, was lured out of defence and passed with alarming ease by Savo Milosevic, Dwight Yorke and then Mark Draper.

The last of those, in the tenth minute. involved a scintillating burst of verve and pace. It was stopped by Bjorn Kvarme, the Norwegian recruit from Rosenberg, who giving an object lesson to the English in the art of defending, matched Draper for speed and then stretched out his foot to knock the ball to safety.

Next, Taylor caught John Barnes dwelling on the ball - vigour beating wisdom - but Yorke. too quick for Stig Bjornebye and Matteo only invited the save from James with a rising shot.

Within seconds. Stan Collymore, clean through and aided by the impetuous way Mark Bosnich had rushed out of his area, for some inexplicable reason scooped the ball high over the bar. It would have been line at Twickenham but it was so wasteful on the Villa sands.