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In an entertaining game at Anfield today, Liverpool gained some revenge over Aston Villa by defeating them 2-1.
The win was Liverpool's first at Anfield in the Premier League since December.
Despite being under the cosh for the great majority of the game, Villa took the lead late in the first half through Ollie Watkins, who slid the ball under Alisson after a counter-attack.
Liverpool thought they’d equalized just minutes later, but a controversial VAR call chalked off Roberto Firmino’s goal, apparently deciding Diogo Jota was offside in the build-up.
But the Reds finally drew level after 57 minutes, when a shot from Andrew Robertson was saved, only to land at the feet of Mohamed Salah - who struck home.
The second half saw both sides miss key chances, with Trezeguet hitting the post for Villa.
But with just added time remaining, Trent Alexander-Arnold struck a wonderful goal to hand the Reds all three points, moving them into the top four.
Here are five talking points from Liverpool’s win over Aston Villa.
#1 Alexander-Arnold sends Southgate a message with his late goal
It’s probably safe to say that Trent Alexander-Arnold hasn’t been in the best form as of late.
The 22-year old Liverpool right-back was left out of Gareth Southgate’s most recent England squad. And earlier this week, he had an absolute stinker as the Reds fell to a Champions League defeat against Real Madrid.
However, with Southgate in attendance today, Alexander-Arnold produced one of his best performances in some time.
It was clear that part of Aston Villa’s game plan was to target the young defender, but Trezeguet and Ollie Watkins didn’t really have much success against him.
The England defender completed three of his five tackles successfully – the most of any Liverpool player. Alexander-Arnold contributed going forward, too, with a 75% pass success rate and three key passes.
And of course, with added time ticking away, it was Alexander-Arnold who found the winner.
After Emiliano Martinez made a crucial save, a poor clearance found its way to the right-back, who bent the ball around Jacob Ramsey and into the net past the Argentine keeper.
It was a fantastic goal to cap off a great showing and hopefully, Southgate will now be sold. To be quite frank, Alexander-Arnold offers so much more than the limited Kyle Walker and should definitely go to the European Championship this summer.
#2 Are Liverpool’s mentality monsters back?
While all of the press coverage going into today’s game focused on Aston Villa’s 7-2 win over Liverpool in October, interestingly enough, the result mirrored the game between these two sides in November 2019.
That match took place at Villa Park and saw Dean Smith’s side take a first-half lead through Trezeguet. Liverpool kept plugging away, though, and eventually won 1-2, thanks to Andrew Robertson and Sadio Mane's late goals.
It was the kind of result that summed up Jurgen Klopp’s so-called ‘mentality monsters.' And sure enough, Liverpool went on to lift the Premier League trophy at the end of the season.
Recently though, it’s been easy to question the mentality of the Reds.
Coming into today’s game, they’d lost their last five home games in the Premier League – last winning at Anfield back in December.
And while their dismantling of Arsenal last weekend seemed to suggest a return to form, their midweek collapse against Real Madrid certainly did not.
So could today give them the momentum they need to push for a top-four spot?
It’s definitely possible. Liverpool didn’t perform brilliantly today, but they certainly outplayed Villa, coming away with 67% possession and nearly three times the amount of shots as their opponents.
More to the point, despite the game seeming destined for a draw, the Reds found a way to win. Only time will tell if it can last, but for this afternoon at least, Klopp’s ‘mentality monsters’ are back.
#3 Villa are still missing Jack Grealish badly
After last weekend’s come-from-behind win over Fulham, hopes were high for a strong showing from Aston Villa today.
Sure, they were never likely to replicate October’s 7-2 win over Liverpool, but the Fulham result gave them confidence and Jack Grealish was seemingly set to return to action.
However, when it was announced that Grealish would again miss out due to his ongoing shin injury, Dean Smith’s side saw their hopes fade away somewhat.
And indeed, this was not a good showing from Villa from an attacking perspective, despite taking the lead through Ollie Watkins.
Watkins plugged away as Villa’s attacking focal point, but once again, chances for him were few and far between.
Simply put, Smith’s men just didn’t create enough for him. Bertrand Traore was poor on the right side, Trezeguet worked hard on the left but lacked quality, and John McGinn just isn’t a creative playmaker.
In the end, Villa came away from the game with just nine shots overall, five of which were on target. Against a defense as ropy-looking as Liverpool’s right now, it just wasn’t good enough.
Villa should finish in a comfortable mid-table position and should be happy with their progress, but they still look shorn of creativity without Grealish.
Fans of the club will hope they can add more attacking quality in the summer, otherwise, their hopes of pushing into European contention might be scuppered.
#4 VAR has a stinker again by chalking off Firmino’s goal
Last night’s Fulham vs. Wolves game saw arguably one of the worst VAR decisions of the season, as a goal from Willian Jose was chalked off for an apparent offside by Daniel Podence.
It was a simply ludicrous decision that was made even worse by the fact that the ball appeared to be blurred – and thus in motion – when the VAR lines were added to the still picture of the incident.
Sadly, today’s game saw a VAR decision that was equally bad.
With little time in the first half remaining, a long ball over the top came to Diogo Jota, who aimed a cross into the box. And after a bit of a scramble, the ball was turned home by Roberto Firmino for a Liverpool equalizer.
However, after checking that Villa’s Matty Cash hadn’t touched the ball before it reached Jota, VAR came to the conclusion that the Portuguese was offside, despite Ezri Konsa seemingly playing him on.
Apparently, Jota’s sleeve was offside.
Simply put, this was a ridiculous call to make and Liverpool rightly would’ve felt aggrieved had they failed to win this game.
Something needs to be done about VAR’s use of the offside rule before next season because these calls are genuinely ruining matches.
#5 Could Watkins sneak into England’s European Championship squad?
While it’s clear that Harry Kane will be England’s main striker at this summer’s European Championship, it’s unclear exactly which forward will also go as the Spurs man’s backup.
Right now, it looks like Dominic Calvert-Lewin is in the driving seat, but there’s still every chance that Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins could sneak ahead of him in the queue.
Watkins was called into the England squad for the first time last month and scored on his Three Lions debut against San Marino.
And after today’s goal – which he took excellently – he’s now got 12 strikes to his name this season, with only Kane, Calvert-Lewin, Jamie Vardy and Patrick Bamford ahead of him when it comes to English players.
When you consider that Watkins has often had to live off scraps – particularly since Jack Grealish has been sidelined – it becomes even more impressive.
And more to the point, the Villa man harasses defenders like few others. Watkins won three of his seven aerial duels today and completed more successful dribbles (three) than any other Villa player.
When you also consider he hasn’t missed a minute of Premier League action and still looks fresh, there’s definitely a case for Southgate considering him.
And even if he doesn’t, the former Brentford man should still go down as one of the 2020-21 season’s best signings.
