Aston Villa held Liverpool to an entertaining 2-2 draw as the Reds stretched their lead to eight points clear at the top, but missed the chance to go 10 clear of Arsenal.
The visitors took the lead when a dreadful error from Andres Garcia, on his first Villa start, allowed Diogo Jota to square for Mohamed Salah to fire home, before Villa dragged themselves level when Youri Tielemans fired in after Liverpool failed to clear.
Ollie Watkins then put Villa ahead as he headed home Lucas Digne’s cross before the break, after which Jota struck the crossbar from range.
Trent Alexander-Arnold then fired Liverpool level with a deflected effort, before Reds substitute Darwin Nunez missed a glorious chance after being found by Dominik Szoboszlai. Villa sub Donyell Malen then almost won it with the final kick. Here are the game’s main talking points.
From the off what struck you about both sides was just how different they looked to how we’ve usually seen them. In Villa’s case that was due to personnel, with Garcia, Axel Disasi, Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford all in from the start, with all but Disasi making their first starts for the club.
Liverpool’s selections have stayed largely consistent all season in terms of the players on the pitch, but here there was a slight tweak as Salah and Jota were the only two recognised forwards. Arne Slot was seemingly looking for his side to take more control in the middle of the pitch through both Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones, and they did that from the off as the visitors started well, but Villa would soon overcome that.
One thing we know about Unai Emery is that he will never back down from a challenge, and it was as though Villa saw beating the Liverpool press as a test they had to pass in the first half. They usually did, but playing out from the back eventually cost them.
Garcia passed the ball straight to Jota on the corner of his own penalty area, and the Portuguese – who otherwise looked rusty in front of goal – was always going to lay it off to Salah for the opener, and his 38th goal contribution in the Premier League this season (Cristiano Ronaldo got 37 in that stellar 2007-08 campaign). It had appeared as though Villa had just rode out the Liverpool pressure at that moment, but a key slip cost them.
Ahead in the game and seeking to punish Villa’s high line, you thought that this clash looked perfectly set up for Liverpool at 0-1. But a combination of their own slack play and Villa’s determination saw the hosts wrestle control.
Liverpool were far too reactive, both in defence and midfield, to the Villa attackers building momentum, and it was no real surprise when Tielemans fired in after several missed attempts to clear Liverpool’s lines.
Worse was to come for the Reds right at the end of the first half, as Digne got forward down the left and crossed expertly for Watkins to head home. Villa had applied the slightest of pressure and it had paid off for them, with Liverpool floored.
Liverpool didn’t start the second half all that well, and there were a couple of occasions when Villa could have extended their lead – most notably when Rashford rounded Alisson but couldn’t finish from the range.
That might have been the incident which focused Liverpool minds, and soon enough it was the visitors who wrestled control of the game, winning a succession of corners before, as they took advantage of Villa’s insistence on pushing forward, they equalised when Alexander-Arnold and Salah almost insisted the ball went over the line, with the former firing in via a deflection.
So a chance to go 10 points clear is lost, and now it is Arsenal who have the tantalising advantage of a game in hand.
This difficult run of games was always going to present the chance for Liverpool to streak ahead, but Slot will point to just how hard these fixtures have been, with easier matches on the horizon after the meetings with Manchester City and Newcastle in the next week. The Reds are going to have to start winning consistently again soon though, as they are losing their vice-like grip on this league.
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