NO other side has brought out the extremes in Liverpool quite like Aston Villa this season.

From the depths of December’s humbling defeat at Anfield to the highs of their second half performance at Villa Park, the full range of the Reds’ mood swings have been laid bare against Paul Lambert’s men.

And if that shock loss before Christmas marked the turning point in their campaign then yesterday’s revenge mission summed up the entire reign under manager Brendan Rodgers.

With their defensive susceptibilities exposed once more, the Reds rallied and produced passages of excellence and scored a picture book goal to help bring themselves level.

Liverpool showed the sides of their imperfect self in the Midlands.

But at least this time it ended positively and victory here keeps those hopes, however faint, of European qualification alive for another week.

Rodgers was bullish when he said the season would not be allowed to peter out and so the win not only put flesh on his words but also provided a much needed response to their woeful showing on the south coast two weeks earlier.

And the performance one of their constants in this rollercoaster season played a significant part in that – the brilliance of Luis Suarez.

He flew half away around the globe in the week to return from international duty and then turned in a performance which reaffirmed the belief he is worlds apart from most of the rest.

Suarez did not add to his goals tally for the season, though the chances were there, but won the penalty from which Steven Gerrard put Liverpool in front and frightened the living daylights out of Villa all afternoon.

He carried the fight almost single-handedly until the cavalry arrived in a rampaging second half display.

Gerrard, who now joins Robbie Fowler on a club record 12 goals against Villa, deserves credit not only for his goal and leadership but the athletic header that cleared Christian Benteke’s goalbound effort off the line.

But the plaudits will, rightly, land in the lap of Suarez.

His manager insists top players will come to the club with or without the sweetener of European football and the hope must be the 26-year-old is willing to think on similar lines.

Simply, he was fabulous again yesterday.

In an effort to drag Brendan Rodgers’ men from their early slumber, he tried too hard at times but his invention and willing, lacking in most others, gave them hope at the turnaround.

It was a meek – almost disinterested – start to the game from Liverpool which was compounded when Benteke hammered home the opening goal; his third in two games against the Reds.

Scott Lowton launched a cross deep into Liverpool territory, Gabriel Agbonlahor found space in between Glen Johnson and Jamie Carragher before laying off the ball for Benteke to smash beyond Pepe Reina.

Liverpool conceded in similarly worrying fashion at St Mary’s two weeks earlier and it reared its ugly head once again.

Fortunately, there was a concerted response this time around and, belatedly, Rodgers saw his side stir into life.

Suarez should have scored when Barry Banan’s miscued pass put him through on goal but Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan rushed from his goal and blocked the shot.

The American was then equal to Gerrard’s goalbound piledriver as the break approached with Liverpool building momentum.

It was a spell which had the tempo the rest of the half was crying out for and those flickers of recovery turned into a fiery start to the second half.

Philippe Coutinho, who produced a confident display, threaded a delightful through ball to find Jordan Henderson’s charge from midfield and the inch perfect pass was met with a deft finish.

The England under-21 captain was making his first start since in the league for nearly seven weeks as Rodgers made four changes from the side that suffered defeat to Southampton.

And fittingly, Liverpool were a transformed side from that day and were reinvigorated after the break here.

Suarez now had support flooding from midfield and the Reds counter attacked Villa with ever increasing menace.

They began to over-run their relegation-threatened hosts and Coutinho should have capped off his encouraging performance with a goal but when he raced clear from Suarez’s pass, he fired wide.

It was not a miss Liverpool would rue as Steven Gerrard’s penalty on the hour turned the game in Liverpool’s favour after Nathan Baker hacked Suarez.

Although they required the skipper to produce a fine header to clear Benteke’s effort from off the line and Reina to be alert when Lowton’s miss-hit cross was looping in, Rodgers’ men controlled the second period.

Though Villa began with energy there was always a nervous edge to their game and Liverpool preyed on that after the break.

Rodgers talked of Villa as the turning point but he must now hope they are on the straight and narrow to Europe.