Arne Slot’s men returned to winning ways to end a run of four successive league defeats
Liverpool avoided a fifth-straight Premier League defeat as they ran out 2-0 victors 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.
Villa had several good sightings of goal throughout but, in the end, it proved to be a rousing victory for the hosts, who look ahead to a mouth-watering encounter with Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Liverpool v Aston Villa as it happened
Despite the hosts racing out the blocks, it was Villa who had the game’s first real chance. With five minutes gone, Morgan Rogers saw his whipped effort cannon off the far post and rebound to safety.
The hosts then had another decent spell before the visitors again went close, a wonderful save from Giorgi Mamardashvili being the only thing preventing Matty Cash’s deflected shot from finding the top corner.
Emi Martinez in the Villa goal then had his moment to shine, keeping out from Dominik Szoboszlai’s effort when the Hungarian stole in after reading a return pass towards Pau Torres.
But on the stroke of half-time, the Villa shot stopper would undo that fine work when he gifted an opener to Liverpool.
Trying to play out from the back, he passed the ball straight to onrushing Salah. The Egyptian gratefully pounced on the error, before curling a first-time effort past Pau Torres and into an empty net.
Gravenberch gave Reds fans a feeling of relief distinctly lacking in recent weeks when he doubled Liverpool’s advantage shortly before the hour.
Trying his luck from the edge of the area, the Dutchman’s left-foot shot took a deflection significant enough to wrongfoot Martinez.
Villa applied some 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 in the table.
