Watch the Premier League and Football League highlights here

Liverpool fans should keep their title dreams on hold. Notoriously slow starters, their team won an opening-day fixture for the first time in five years thanks to Steven Gerrard’s brilliant free kick, but Rafael BenÍtez insisted that his improved squad is well short of the Premier League’s top two.

The Liverpool manager, with Wednesday’s Champions League third qualifying round, first leg away to Toulouse in mind, was able to leave Peter Crouch, Javier Mascherano and Yossi Benayoun in Merseyside and still overwhelm Aston Villa. Yet from eight outstanding openings, they led only through Martin Laursen’s own goal when Gareth Barry equalised with a penalty, after Jamie Carragher’s handball, five minutes from time.

Admittedly, Stuart Taylor, the Villa goalkeeper, was in outstanding form. But Villa were not. Liverpool should have been out of sight long before Gerrard’s late free kick.

Martin O’Neill, the Villa manager, believes that Liverpool are as powerful as Manchester United and Chelsea. BenÍtez, after spending £40 million on signings, begs to differ.

“The favourites are Chelsea and United, that’s clear,” BenÍtez said. “They finished 21 points ahead [of us last season]. Can we get closer? We would have to do everything almost perfectly and we will try to do that.”

Gerrard managed perfection with his goal. It was debatable whether Stiliyan Petrov’s challenge was a tackle, let alone a foul, but the England player, revelling in central midfield, guided the ball into the angle between post and bar. “I’m just grateful the lads let me take a free kick,” he said. “They usually go over.”

O’Neill said: “Gerrard remains the heartbeat of that team. He’s a great player, one of the best in the world. He looks as if he is even improving.”

Villa will need to. While both teams kept newcomers to a minimum – Fernando Torres was sharp and hard-working for Liverpool and linked well with Dirk Kuyt, Nigel Reo-Coker got stuck in for Villa and covered the miles – the small size of O’Neill’s squad had, on Saturday, little to do with how far they are from the elite.

O’Neill would happily field this front six, even if he signed four players tomorrow, but he has to address one significant failing. Sickness affected John Carew and Laursen, who volleyed home Kuyt’s pullback after Taylor’s superb save from Torres, but Petrov was strolling in this manner last season. The Bulgarian is no ball-winner and yet for Villa he barely passes a ball crisply over ten yards or drives it accurately over 50, let alone gets up and beyond the forwards to resemble a scoring midfield player.

He burst through with one off-the-ball run to shoot straight at José Manuel Reina, but, switching to the anchor role, he was a liability with his lax marking and ineffectual tackling. This sends a message to his team: third gear is enough. While Petrov remains untouchable, Villa will have problems.

Aston Villa (4-1-2-1-2): S Taylor 8 - C Gardner 7, O Mellberg 5, M Laursen 4 (sub: G Cahill, 46min, 5), W Bouma 4 (sub: L Moore, 71) - N Reo-Coker 5 - S Petrov 4, G Barry 6 - A Young 7 - G Agbonlahor 4, J Carew 5. Substitutes not used: M Harewood, I Osbourne, S Maloney. Booked: Mellberg, Bouma, Barry, Petrov. Next: Newcastle United (a).

Liverpool (4-4-2): J M Reina 6 - S Finnan 5, J Carragher 7, D Agger 7, A Arbeloa 6 - J Pennant 6 (sub: R Babel, 74), S Gerrard 8, X Alonso 7, J A Riise 6 - D Kuyt 7 (sub: M Sissoko, 90), F Torres 6 (sub: A Voronin, 79). Substitutes not used: C Itandje, S Hyypia. Booked: Pennant, Reina. Next: Chelsea (h).