Premier League: Aston Villa 2 (Tielemans 38, Watkins 45+3) Liverpool 2 (Salah 29, Alexander-Arnold 61)
Arne Slot may find it tough to decipher and digest a draw that ultimately tightens Liverpool’s grip at the top. Given how close the Aston Villa substitute Donyell Malen came to snatching a 95th-minute winner, though, perhaps it will be easy enough.
Trent Alexander-Arnold rattled in a second-half equaliser to maintain Liverpool’s unbeaten away run in the Premier League but a point was frustrating given the substitute Darwin Núñez earlier missed a glaring chance to earn victory.
How much encouragement will this result give Arsenal, eight points behind the leaders with a game in hand? Diogo Jota also missed a brilliant first-half chance for Liverpool, who seized the lead through Mohammed Salah before goals by Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins put Villa – for whom Marcus Rashford made his first start since joining on loan from Manchester United – in front at the interval.
This evolved into a captivating, seesawing contest once Villa recovered from an early wave of Liverpool attacks. Virgil van Dijk walloped a shot over the bar after collecting Alexander-Arnold’s improvised outside-of-the boot pass and the next minute Tyrone Mings made a couple of important interventions, first to block Diogo Jota’s shot and then Andy Robertson’s cross. Unai Emery gesticulated furiously on the touchline, demanding his players raise their level.
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And so they did. Few would have had Rashford and Marco Asensio doubling up on Ryan Gravenberch in Villa shirts in mid-February on their bingo card. Then Rashford flew down the left flank, played a one-two with Asensio, also making his first Villa start, and Rashford’s low cross cannoned off a Liverpool defender into the back of Alisson’s net. Then came the check from the video assistant referee, replays showing Rashford strayed offside before collecting Asensio’s return.
It was a decision in keeping with the rest of the game until that point: a procession of nearly-moments. Emiliano Martínez made a fine save to thwart Dominik Szoboszlai after Curtis Jones twirled away from Villa challenges, Lucas Digne superbly stopped Salah in his tracks.
Emery warned Villa would be punished for dropping off for a second and a lapse of concentration gifted Liverpool the lead. Andrés García, the right-back Villa signed from Levante last month, played a blind backward pass straight to Jota, lurking outside the 18-yard box, and the Liverpool forward took a pace or two before squaring for Salah to convert his cross from close range. It was surely the easiest of Salah’s 29 goals in all competitions this season. García grimaced, Van Dijk did a double fist-pump. Slot was busy receiving high-fives on the Liverpool bench.
It was a goal that seemed to galvanise Villa. Suddenly the supporters dialled up the volume. Villa responded on the pitch. John McGinn kept a Rashford free-kick alive at the back post after Ibrahima Konaté headed clear and then Mings bopped the ball on again. Szoboszlai’s clearance dropped straight to Tielemans, who volleyed in.
Liverpool should have immediately regained the lead but Jota, played in on goal by Robertson with only Martínez to beat, shanked a shot painfully wide.
If Jota was not kicking himself then, he surely was when Liverpool headed down the tunnel trailing at the interval. Watkins kickstarted the move himself before spreading play and drifting into the box unmarked to spook Van Dijk and head in a Digne cross in first-half stoppage time, sparking bedlam in the North Stand.
This was Rashford’s first league start since December and while he faded, his direct running caused problems. Alisson came rushing exuberantly out of goal early in the second half but inadvertently presented Rashford with a chance to curl the ball into an empty net, an effort lacking conviction but which required Konaté to clear.
Jota went close on the hour, clipping the top of the crossbar from the edge of the Villa box but Liverpool levelled a minute later. Alexander-Arnold advanced into some space on halfway and after collecting the ball from Salah his thrashed shot flew into the bottom corner via Mings, McGinn throwing himself to ground in vain. Then Liverpool went for the jugular, but a winner evaded them. — Guardian
Aston Villa: Martinez, Garcia (Cash 67), Disasi, Mings, Digne (Maatsen 78), McGinn (Bogarde 86), Tielemans, Rogers, Asensio (Malen 67), Rashford (Ramsey 67), Watkins.
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold (Bradley 66), Konate, van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Mac Allister (Diaz 81), Salah, Szoboszlai, Jones, Jota (Nunez 66), Bradley (Quansah 89).
Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire).
