LIVERPOOL 2-0 ASTON VILLA: Mohamed Salah inspires Arne Slot’s side to a huge win which sends Reds five points clear at the top of the Premier League after Manchester City stumbled again
Mohamed Salah was the hero as Liverpool moved five points clear at the top of the Premier League with a victory over Aston Villa.
Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat at Brighton gave the Reds a brilliant opportunity at Anfield – and they grabbed it to show their title credentials. With Salah in this kind of form, they will be heralded as favourites by many now.
Liverpool took the lead in the 20th minute when Darwin Nunez scored from a tight angle after rounding Emiliano Martinez on the counter-attack. Nunez could have made it 2-0 from another counter from a suicidal Aston Villa corner, but smashed over.
Villa nearly equalised from two more corners, but Caoimhin Kelleher reacted well to push away headers from Amadou Onana and Diego Carlos. Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold and Villa midfielder Jacob Ramsey were both forced off injured before the half-time whistle came.
Morgan Rogers fired wide before Nunez planted a free header past the post as the two sides exchanged missed chances straight after the break. The second half died down massively thereafter, as both managers made changes, until Ezri Konsa slid in to thwart Liverpool on yet another counter-attack from a Villa corner.
Villa didn’t learn their lesson and Salah made it 2-0 by beating Martinez at his near post in the 84th minute to spark jubilation in the stands. Here are the talking points from a brilliant night for the home side, who made it six clean sheets from 11 league games.
1. Villa wide open
As has become fashionable, Villa employ a set piece coach, Austin MacPhee. The long-haired coach is a familiar presence on the touchline, but Villa fans must have been wondering how meticulously planned corner routines could have left them wide open on the counter-attack twice in the first half.
Liverpool’s opening goal owed much to the home side’s razor-sharp and rapid attack, but also to Villa’s jaw-droppingly naïve approach. One ball forward from Virgil van Dijk sent Mo Salah racing beyond Leon Bailey, who panicked and brought him down, only for Nunez to race through and score anyway.
Startlingly, it happened again shortly after, only this time Nunez blasted his shot high and wide when through one-on-one with Emi Martinez. Unai Emery did tweak things to go less gung-ho from following corners – from which Villa very nearly equalised – but their initial set-up was baffling and costly, as proven by another similar counter in the 80th minute, which Konsa thwarted single-handedly.
2. Coote’s bizarre display
Referee David Coote was perhaps fortunate that Nunez rounded Martinez and scored in the 20th minute, because a reverse angle broadcast on TNT Sports showed him waving away Liverpool’s appeal for a foul when Bailey brought down Salah. Coote had sprinted up the pitch to keep up with play and yet somehow didn’t think Bailey had committed a foul.
Arne Slot was seen talking to the fourth official after the goal went in. The Dutchman was no doubt asking about a red card for Bailey, who escaped any punishment.
Minutes later, Coote was overseeing another bizarre moment of officiating, awarding Liverpool a free-kick after Ollie Watkins went over looking for a penalty from Ibrahima Konate. Watkins wasn’t handed a yellow card for diving and it remained unclear what decision Coote had given.
3. Salah on fire
Liverpool’s season so far has been backlighted by an ongoing story: the contracts of Van Dijk, Alexander-Arnold and Salah. The debate among all Reds fans has been who they should prioritise keeping. The form of Salah has made a compelling argument in his favour: he is worth £350,000 at the moment.
His inadvertent assist for Nunez’s opening goal saw him move onto 10 assists in 17 appearances for Liverpool this season. Statisticians Opta report that it is the earliest any Liverpool player has reached double figures for assists in all competitions in the last 40 seasons; the previous fastest being the 18 games managed by John Barnes in 1987/88.
Salah has sometimes been accused of selfishness in front of goal – I’m looking at you Sadio Mane – but Slot is clearly getting the best out of him across the board. He is the talisman who could lead them to the title.
4. Yet more VAR controversy
You hear that sound? That’s thousands of football fans around the globe shouting “ALL WE WANT IS CONSISTENCY!” at once. Nobody really wants to discuss VAR decisions after a game of such importance at the top of the Premier League, but here we are.
Villa were absolutely seething when a shout for a penalty was waved away. Conor Bradley pulled Pau Torres’ shirt in the box. Nothing doing. Yet, minutes later, when Boubacar Kamara tugged back Ryan Gravenberch in open play, Coote pulled out the yellow card.
It’s not a new grievance, and PGMOL chief Howard Webb will have a statistic to quote, but officiating in the Premier League still has plenty of issues to iron out.
5. Title credentials undeniable
Liverpool are far from perfect, but with Manchester City and Arsenal currently experiencing a slump, they have emerged as the least flawed side in the Premier League at this moment in time. Slot has not reinvented the wheel since taking over from Jurgen Klopp and continuity looks good on them.
“Maybe after seven years winning six Premier Leagues, maybe one year another team deserve it,” a resigned Pep Guardiola told Match of the Day after City were beaten 2-1 at Brighton. “We see what happens in Liverpool against Aston Villa, we’ll see.”
Slot will no doubt be keen to play down Liverpool’s chances of winning a first Premier League title since 2019/20 – and that is a very prudent move – but the longer this goes on, the harder it will be to trot out the platitudes about focusing on one game at a time. Liverpool clearly have what it takes this season.
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