Arne Slot’s men returned to winning ways to end a run of four successive league defeats
Liverpool avoided a fifth successive Premier League defeat with a 2-0 win over Aston Villa at Anfield.
Mohamed Salah’s 250th Liverpool goal and Ryan Gravenberch’s deflected effort were enough to see Arne Slot’s side return to winning ways and move up to third in the table.
Hugo Ekitike scored a goal, while Villa had several good goal sightings throughout. But in the end, it turned out to be a resounding victory for the hosts, who are looking forward to a mouth-watering encounter with Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Liverpool v Aston Villa as it happened
Although the hosts rushed towards the blocks, it was Villa who had the first real chance of the match. Five minutes later, Morgan Rogers saw his cannon whipped effort leave the far post and bounce to safety.
The hosts then enjoyed another decent period before the visitors went close again, a wonderful save from Giorgi Mamardashvili being the only one to prevent Matty Cash’s deflected shot from finding the top corner.
Emi Martinez in the Villa goal then had his moment to shine, avoiding Dominik Szoboszlai’s effort when the Hungarian slipped in after reading a pass back to Pau Torres.
Ekitike then saw a header ruled out for offside before, just before half-time, the Villa striker canceled out the fine work when he gifted Liverpool an opener.
Trying to play from the back, he passed the ball directly to Salah. The Egyptian gratefully took advantage of the error, before scoring for the first time past Pau Torres and into an empty net.
Gravenberch gave Reds fans a sense of relief that they had clearly been lacking in recent weeks when he doubled Liverpool’s advantage shortly before the hour mark.
Trying his luck from the edge of the area, the Dutchman’s left-footed shot took a sufficiently significant deflection to put Martinez on the wrong foot.
Villa applied late pressure as they tried to get back into the game. But it was a night that belonged to Liverpool, who returned to winning ways and moved up to third place in the table.
