Michael Owen broke his goal drought, but Liverpool’s poor form continued as a draw against Aston Villa left them without a Premiership win from their last 11 outings.

Owen struck his first goal since 2 November, the last time Liverpool won a league game.

Villa have not won on their Premiership travels this season and Dion Dublin’s spot-kick equaliser was not enough to break that run.

The visitors had two chances to land an early blow in their quest for an away win.

First, Dublin volleyed Gareth Barry’s pin-point cross over the bar from just seven yards out.

And then the striker watched in agony as his hooked shot was cleared off the line by Stephane Henchoz.

Liverpool applied increasing pressure, midfielder Salif Diao sending a left-foot shot just wide, Owen firing into the side-netting instead of passing to Neil Mellor and John Arne’s Riise hitting the post.

The home side finally broke through Villa’s defence after 38 minutes with El-Hadji Diouf the creator.

Diouf’s skill and trickery saw him work his way to the by-line before pulling the ball back for Owen to lash home from close range.

Villa were out 10 minutes warming up at half-time prior to Liverpool’s emergence after the interval and they were rewarded with an equaliser.

Anfield keeper Chris Kirkland impressively saved an Ian Taylor header.

But he could not stop a well-placed Dublin penalty awarded when Sami Hyypia brought down Barry.

Dublin then headed over from six yards as Liverpool struggled for form and fluency against their more determined visitors.

When Liverpool did manage to threaten the Villa goal they were denied by a mixture of good defending and Peter Enckelman’s goalkeeping, Steven Gerrard and Emile Heskey both denied by the Finn.

And Liverpool’s Murphy had a free-kick cleared off the line by Ulises de la Cruz.

Barry volleyed over for the visitors as the frustration from the home fans became apparent from the terraces and the spoils were shared.