Player Ratings and Match Highlights

Liverpool beat Aston Villa 2-0 and extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points. Villa began somewhat tentatively, which was understandable, given their recent three defeats in the Premier League, League Cup and in Europe.

Liverpool took the lead via a Villa corner, which was cleared, leaving Lucas Digne utterly exposed to the counterattack, which was finished emphatically, after Darwin Nunez took the ball wide of the keeper to the right to make it 1-0.

Villa continued to look decidedly vulnerable to Liverpool counter-attacks, with Nunez missing a great chance. This was again from a Villa corner. Despite Liverpool’s dominance, Caoimhin Kelleher was required to make two good saves in quick succession to deny Villa the equaliser.

Villa started the second-half brightly, with Morgan Rogers missing a very presentable opportunity to equalise, but it was Liverpool who claimed a second goal, when after a mistake from Diego Carlos, Mohamed Salah drove forward and put his left foot to great use to put Liverpool 2-0 up.

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Match Highlights

Liverpool Player Ratings

Caoimhin Kelleher – 8/10

Not required in the first half until nearly 40 minutes, when he made a sharp save by Onana, followed by another point-blank range stop to deny Carlos, which was a vital contribution to the game.

Trent Alexander-Arnold – 6/10

Was playing well, but had to be taken off after only 25 minutes after what appeared to be a muscular injury.

Ibrahima Konate – 7/10

He took pride in his defensive play, much to the delight of the Liverpool fans. Showed great strength and awareness.

Virgil van Dijk – 6/10

A relatively assured performance, but Villa rarely troubled the big Dutchman.

Andy Robertson – 6/10

Back in the starting line-up, after being on the bench against Leverkusen in mid-week. Solid throughout.

Alexis Mac Allister – 6/10

Always looked to get quick passes into the path of his attacking colleagues. A decent night for the Argentine.

Ryan Gravenberch – 6/10

On hand and part of Liverpool’s best moments. He’s having a tremendous season.

Mohamed Salah – 7/10

Would have no doubt been licking his lips at Villa’s defending, tearing the visitors to shreds on several occasions. Still blessed with great pace.

Curtis Jones – 6/10

His performance didn’t reach the heights of what he did against Leverkusen in the week, but that he started that match and this game says enough about what Slot thinks of him.

Luis Diaz – 6/10

Somewhat underwhelming performance after his heroics in mid-week against Leverkusen, but still worked tirelessly for his team.

Darwin Nunez – 7/10

On hand to score the opener when it looked like he’d gone too far wide when rounding Martinez, only to fire home from a tight angle.

SUB – Cody Gakpo – 6/10

Came on for Nunez with 25 minutes left and looked to get involved on every occasion Liverpool attacked.

SUB – Wataru Endo – N/A

Brought on with three minutes left, so not able to make a real impression.

SUB – Dominik Szoboszlai – 6/10

Looked sharp on his introduction into the action.

SUB – Conor Bradley – 6/10

Came on for Alexander-Arnold after 25 minutes and looked at home in the Liverpool side without setting the world alight.

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Aston Villa Player Ratings

Emiliano Martinez – 6/10

Not fault for Nunez’s goal, when the Uruguayan was put clean through on goal. Couldn’t do much about Salah’s effort either.

Lucas Digne – 6/10

Was left very much exposed for Nunez’s first-half goal. Unremarkable for the rest of the game.

Pau Torres – 6/10

Like many of his colleagues, seemed absent without leave when Liverpool counter-attacked after Villa had a corner.

Diego Carlos – 5/10

Was unfortunate not to have equalised, as he was denied by a fantastic save by Kelleher. At fault for the second Liverpool goal.

Ezri Konsa – 6/10

As ever, he battled, but his contribution was not enough for Villa to avoid defeat.

Youri Tielemans – 6/10

Looked to get on the ball as much as he could, trying to galvanise Villa to get forward in the closing stages.

Amadou Onana – 6/10

Was denied by Kelleher, who made a great save, he proved to be an aerial threat to Liverpool.

Jacob Ramsey – 5/10

Looked a bit off the pace and things went from bad to worse as he strained a hamstring before the half-time whistle.

Morgan Rogers – 5/10

Another Villa player who looked someway short of the performances he has put in earlier in the season.

Leon Bailey – 5/10

Fortunate not to receive a red card after bringing down Mo Salah, but with Liverpool scoring from the move, he was spared.

Ollie Watkins – 4/10

Looked a little short of confidence, no doubt a result of their three quick-fire defeats in the last few weeks.

SUB – Jhon Duran – 6/10

Brought off the bench once more, but on this occasion there were to be no heroics.

SUB – John McGinn – 7/10

Joined the action after Ramsey suffered a hamstring injury. Tried to make things happen.

SUB – Boubacar Kamara – 5/10

Replaced Onana but went into the book no sooner had he entered the field of play.

SUB – Jaden Philogene – 5/10

Replaced Ollie Watkins with just over 20 minutes left to play.

SUB – Ian Maatsen – 5/10

Not able to make an impact.

Man of the Match

Caoimhin Kelleher

Early in the game, it felt as though Liverpool could run away with this game, as the away side seemed completely unsure of how to stem Liverpool counterattacks, but at only 1-0, Villa remained in the game. Kelleher showed his worth to Liverpool when he saved well from Onana’s header from an inswing corner.

From the subsequent corner, Kelleher made an even better save, when he made himself big to stop a near post header from Diego Carlos, to keep Villa at bay and Liverpool in the lead. With their first choice keeper Alisson injured, Kelleher’s contribution proved vital in keeping Liverpool top of the Premier League.