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Everyone shook hands and no one stole anyone’s players, so Aston Villa can get on with the task of chasing Liverpool for a place among English football’s elite with Gareth Barry on their side and a point proved. This was the first time in 46 matches that Martin O’Neill’s team have had to be content with a goalless draw; that Liverpool were satisfied with such a result is a reflection of Villa’s progress.

Rafael BenÍtez had to make do without Steven Gerrard, who was out after having a groin operation on Friday, and for the final hour of this struggle Fernando Torres, who suffered a hamstring injury, but Villa have raised their expectations since spending £48 million on new players after finishing sixth in the Barclays Premier League last season to qualify for the Uefa Cup.

“Regardless of whether Steven Gerrard or Fernando Torres were playing, I felt we’d win the game,” O’Neill said. “If you’d told me we’d keep a clean sheet today, I’d have been sure we would have won.”

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If the rousing applause that accompanied Barry down the players’ tunnel beforehand was only predictable, the torrent of abuse with which BenÍtez was greeted was vitriolic. “I heard the Midlands accent is the hardest to understand, so I struggled to hear what they said,” the Liverpool manager joked.

The opprobrium for BenÍtez scarcely let up, but while Villa supporters are unwilling to forgive the public pursuit of their star player, the visiting team’s fans were generous to Barry, applauding him as they would one of their own as he went to take a corner in the first period. Perhaps he will be one day.

“I thought he did really well,” O’Neill said. “He would have had a lot to ponder. The crowd’s reaction to him was terrific. I thought the Liverpool crowd’s reaction to him was terrific, too. Now he can settle down to working his way back to the form that got him close to the England captaincy. He’s getting there.”

Barry, who was watched by Franco Baldini, the England general manager, had a typically understated but influential game. Unfortunately for Villa, Javier Mascherano, returning from winning Olympic gold in China with Argentina, was excellent, snaffling up loose balls and snapping into challenges at every opportunity. Alongside him Xabi Alonso was composure personified. Perhaps he lacks Barry’s surge, but the Spain playmaker is a class act.

The teams cancelled each other out and Liverpool, once Torres had gone off, were not too disturbed to leave Villa Park with a point, remaining unbeaten and second only on goal difference to Chelsea.

On this performance, Liverpool barely resemble title contenders, cementing the argument that the big four has become the big two – Manchester United and Chelsea. It is an indictment of their teammates to suggest that Gerrard and Torres would have made the difference.

The early failure of Robbie Keane and Torres to gel as a front pairing prompted BenÍtez to shuffle his formation. With Mascherano the natural ball-winner alongside Alonso, and Lucas Leiva floating around ahead of them, Keane played on the left of a three-man row behind Torres. Some would call it inside left; BenÍtez called it an opportunity “to try other things and try to create him [Keane] the spaces”.

Handshakes finished, like the match, all square. O’Neill sought out BenÍtez, before and after, to instigate the managers’ traditional courtesy. The Villa manager believes that their so-called feud, fuelled by this summer’s agonising exchanges over the Barry nontransfer, is over. “I’m sure it’ll be absolutely fine,” O’Neill said, pausing for comic effect. “Until the next time. Seriously, it’s gone, as far as I’m concerned.”

So – thankfully, some would say – is the memory of this match. When Torres pulled up as he chased Nicky Shorey, Liverpool appeared there for the taking. Despite failing to beat these opponents in their past ten visits to Villa Park, O’Neill’s team have been getting closer.

Their best chance of scoring arrived ten minutes before half-time, when John Carew hustled his way into possession wide on the left and played the ball back to Barry. An aesthetically satisfying pass bought Ashley Young the space in the penalty area to look up and pick out Carew, but José Manuel Reina saved the Norway striker’s point-blank effort.

Liverpool’s best chance arrived when Mascherano’s volleyed pass sent Keane clear, but as the Liverpool No 7 prepared to shoot, Nigel Reo-Coker, during his best performance for Villa, hurled himself into a saving tackle. BenÍtez flapped his arms around in consternation that there was no penalty, O’Neill just clapped his own player’s intervention. As the international break opens and the transfer window closes, all is square in love and war between these two.

Aston Villa ratings

4-4-2

B Friedel 6 L Young 5 C Davies 7 M Laursen 7 N Shorey 4 N Reo-Coker 8 S Petrov 6 G Barry 7 A Young 5 G Agbonlahor 4 J Carew 6 Substitutes: J Milner 6 (for L Young, 64min), C Gardner (for Shorey, 79) Not used: B Guzan, M Harewood, Z Knight, M Salifou, W Routledge Next: Tottenham (a)

Liverpool ratings

4-2-3-1

J M Reina 7 Á Arbeloa 6 J Carragher 7 M Skrtel 6 A Dossena 6 J Mascherano 8 Xabi Alonso 7 R Keane 6 Lucas Leiva 5 D Kuyt 5 F Torres 5 Substitutes: D Ngog 5 (for Torres, 29min), F Aurélio 5 (for Kuyt, 70), Y Benayoun (for Keane, 79) Not used: D Cavalieri, D Agger, R Babel, N El Zhar Next: Man United (h)

Referee: M Atkinson Attendance: 41,647