Wigan Athletic 1 Liverpool 1

Liverpool ended the half strongly, Ryan Babel dispatching a goal bound shot which was so fierce that Mike Pollitt was unable to hold on before Benayoun broke the deadlock in the 41st minute on his favourite Premier League ground.

Benayoun is not renowned for his scoring ability yet he fully deserved his second goal of the campaign after rounding Pollitt before finding the net from an acute angle following a defence-splitting pass by Javier Mascherano.

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With seven minutes remaining, Lucas Leiva needlessly fouled Wigan substitute Jason Koumas in the penalty area and Egyptian star Mido, on his debut, who is on loan from Middlesbrough until the end of the season, sent Jose Reina the wrong way from the penalty.

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This is the fourth consecutive draw and the 7^th league draw out of 11 matches for the out of form Liverpool, who started January on top of the table, Liverpool end it two points adrift of leaders Manchester United, who also have a game in hand. Liverpool's chances of regaining the title seems to be getting slimmer despite Torres' return. :-(

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Fernando Torres had headed against the post from Steven Gerrard's cross before Benayoun put the visitors ahead in the 41st minute.

Javier Mascherano's through-ball picked out the Israeli's run and he skipped past keeper Mike Pollitt before finding the net from the tightest of angles, the ball shaving the near post on its way in.

Start-offs:

Liverpool:Reina, Arbeloa, Skrtel, Carragher, Aurelio, Benayoun(Kuyt 75'), Lucas, Gerrard(Keane 84'), Mascherano, Babel, Torres(Riera 72')

Wigan:Pollitt, Melchiot, Boyce, Scharner, Figueroa, Taylor, Cattermole, Brown, De Ridder(Koumas 63'), Mido, Zaki(Rodallega 77')

What with subsituting Gerrard and Torres out, I do not have the slightest idea of what Rafa Benitez is doing. I just hope he will not repeat his mistake again after this match. But in overall, I think Liverpool played better and should have win. That's the weakness of Liverpool in my opinion: they create lots of chances but do not seize the oppurtunities to score goals and also tend to concede goals when the match is about to end.

Following Liverpool's draw, Chelsea climbed to the second place with a 2-0 win over 18th placed Middlesbrough. Salomon Kalou scored a double in the 58th snd 81st minutes respectively.

Another big match is looming up - Liverpool vs Chelsea.