Liverpool ensured it was an unhappy return for former manager Gerard Houllier with a comfortable 3-0 Premier League win over Aston Villa [ Images ] at Anfield on Monday.

David Ngog [ Images ] and Ryan Babel's [ Images ] first-half strikes and a tidy Maxi Rodriguez goal sealed victory for Roy Hodgson's [ Images ] side and lifted them to eighth in the league table. Villa stayed 16th.

The match was a first competitive return to Anfield for Frenchman Houllier who left Liverpool in 2004 after six years as manager having won five trophies in 2001.

It was not to be a memorable one, though, as Liverpool raced into an early lead with two quickfire goals.

The first came from a corner on 14 minutes when Ngog dived on to a Martin Skrtel [ Images ] header to beat goalkeeper Brad Friedel from close range and the hosts were two up minutes later.

Babel, replacing the absent Fernando Torres [ Images ] whose wife had juat gone into labour, latched on to a Lucas throughball on the edge of the box before swivelling to finish sweetly from an angle.

Liverpool, also without injured defender Jamie Carragher and captain Steven Gerrard [ Images ], added a third 10 minutes after the break when Rodriguez calmly swept home an incisive counter-attack.

The defeat prolonged a poor spell for Villa who have won just once in 10 league matches and hardly created a clear-cut goalscoring chance at Anfield.

Defenders Glen Johnson and Sotirios Kyrgiakos went close to stretching Liverpool's lead, the latter having a header cleared off the line.

Houllier, who has also managed France [ Images ] and Ligue 1 sides Paris Saint Germain and Olympique Lyon [ Images ], was appointed Villa boss in September.