Liverpool were held by Aston Villa in a back-and-forth Premier League showdown at Villa Park.
The hosts went into the break ahead, with goals from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins cancelling out Mohamed Salah’s opener. But Trent Alexander-Arnold restored parity just after the hour mark with a deflected strike which ensured the points were shared at 2-2.
Liverpool are now eight points ahead of nearest title challengers Arsenal. But having played a game more, the door has been left ajar for the Gunners to cut the gap.
Here, Express Sport takes you through how each Reds player performed on the night…
Liverpool player ratings vs Aston Villa (4-2-3-1)
Alisson: 5
Loose pass nearly landed Ibrahima Konate in trouble. Came miles off his line and fluffed a tackle on Marcus Rashford. Not his best night.
Trent Alexander-Arnold: 8 (Bradley, 66)
Some fantastic passing on show. His outside-of-the-foot ball over the top for Virgil van Dijk, who skied the chance, was excellent. He later pinged a perfect cross onto the head of Diogo Jota. Then there was his goal, which took a big deflection, but he was involved throughout the move before the ball hit the net.
Ibrahima Konate: 8
A combination of steady work on the ball and brilliant defending. Picked out Jota with a crisp long pass. Cleared a Rashford effort off the line and made a couple of important interceptions.
Virgil van Dijk: 5
Left Watkins unmarked in the box for the goal that put Villa 2-1 up.
Andrew Robertson: 8
His crossing was a massive threat from start to finish. Great ball in to Salah who miscued the header. Another one later for Jota who did the same. Also sent Jota clean through on goal but the Portuguese made a mess of his finish.
Ryan Gravenberch: 4
Looked leggy and made a handful of mistakes. Skinned by Axel Disasi – of all people – out wide. Dispossessed by Tielemans in a dangerous position. Could have done more to stop the cross coming in for Watkins to head Villa in front.
Alexis Mac Allister: 6
Took a bit of a physical beating at Villa Park. Heavily involved, winning some duels and losing some others.
Mohamed Salah: 7
The finish to open the scoring after Jota’s low cross was an easy one. Played a big role in Alexander-Arnold’s equaliser and started to crank up the pressure as the game went on.
Dominik Szoboszlai: 7
His header away dropped straight at the feet of Tielemans for Villa’s first equaliser. But his physicality was hugely important in a tough game. Showed brilliant composure to lay on a sitter for Darwin Nunez, who missed.
Curtis Jones: 6
Started on the left but often came centrally to create a four in midfield. Highlight of his performance was an eye-watching pirouette and through-ball in the first half.
Diogo Jota: 6 (Nunez, 66)
Some good and some bad from the Portuguese. Andres Garcia’s backwards pass fell straight to him and he kept his cool to set up Salah’s opener. But wasted some half-chances and embarassingly miscued a one-on-one.
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Conor Bradley: 7 (Quansah, 89)
Came on and almost immediately played the through-ball to Szoboszlai which set up Nunez’s missed sitter. Forced off late in the game due to injury.
Darwin Nunez: 4
Disastrous cameo from the Uruguayan. Missed a big chance, was flagged offside, and killed an attack with a terrible pass in under half an hour.
Luis Diaz: N/A
A late addition.
Jarell Quansah: N/A
A late addition.
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