Match Report: Aston Villa vs Liverpool

Aston Villa restricted Liverpool to a 2-2 draw at Villa Park on Wednesday with serious implications for the Premier League title race. The Reds are now eight points ahead of second-place Arsenal, who have a game in hand to decrease the deficit.

Nevertheless, there is a slight majority that accepts the one point against an unpredictable Unai Emery’s team with new faces. Villa used the January transfer window to bolster their squad for the second half of the season with several signings.

Meanwhile, the Reds had a lot to prove after their dreadful second-half display against Wolves at Anfield last weekend. Liverpool head coach Arne Slot made one key change by playing an additional midfielder in Curtis Jones, sacrificing a forward. Jones replaced Luis Diaz in the starting lineup, playing as the left midfielder while Cody Gakpo remained unavailable on Wednesday.

First-Half

Liverpool started the first half on the front foot despite struggling to maintain control of possession during the game. They enjoyed 46% possession in the first half but had 10 shots with one on target compared to Villa’s three shots with two on target.

However, the Villans showcased more lethality in front of the goal compared to the Reds who opened the scoreline. Liverpool’s number nine Diogo Jota used a mistake from Axel Disasi to feed legendary forward Mohamed Salah for his 24^th Premier League goal in the 29^th minute of the game.

The Villans surprised the away side with a goal of their own from Youri Tielemans in the 38^th minute. The poorly dealt set-piece situation highlighted certain moments when Liverpool lost composure to secure a clean sheet.

Villa scored their second goal just before the halftime whistle when Ollie Watkins’ header beat Alisson Becker. The Reds started the season as a strong defensive unit but that aspect of their game is long forgotten. Slot needs to find a way for Liverpool to resurrect their mean defence as they face many key away games.

Second-Half

Liverpool once again threatened Villa after the start of the second half but continued to let the host enjoy possession. The Reds secured 49% possession as they continued to play more directly to find an equalizer.

Liverpool vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold secured an equalizing goal in the 61^st minute after Salah provided him the space to shoot. The game opened up during the latter stages with both teams enjoying several chances to secure a winner.

However, Darwin Nunez stole the spotlight for all the wrong reasons when he missed an open goal after a clever ball from Dominic Szoboszlai took the Villan goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez out of the picture.

There is no denying that Nunez’s miss at such a crucial stage is indefensible even for his most ardent supporters. Later, the Uruguayan international received another chance to redeem himself in the 75^th minute with Salah available to him.

Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez missed an open goal to give the team a much-needed winning goal.

As Martinez lunged forward, Nunez opted to beat him instead of playing Salah for the winning goal. Martinez got better of Nunez in that moment with a cracking tackle, leaving the away fans frustrated with their forward.

Key Observations

Liverpool have numerous issues that they need to address after what happened in the last three Premier League games. Whether it is physical fatigue or something psychological, the Reds midfield are not controlling the game as they used to.

The old habits of giving up cheap possession at crucial stages which leads to conceding goals are haunting them. Furthermore, many players have faced problems where they perform brilliantly during the start of the season but fade away quickly.

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Players like Curtis Jones have ample experience now to avoid that yet he has struggled during the second half of the season. The 24-year-old lost six out of 11 duels and only played 24 passes with 92% passing accuracy throughout the game. At the same time, Slot needs a genuine solution to the number nine problem after the Nunez performance that cost three points.