Football writer Lewis Ambrose analyses Liverpool's 2-2 draw at Aston Villa and what it means for the title race.
Two points dropped or one gained? Title-chasing Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the Premier League on Wednesday night, taking an early lead against Aston Villa before coming from behind to earn a point as Villa Park played host to one of the most exciting matches of the season so far.
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Mohamed Salah scored a deserved opener but the Premier League leaders found themselves behind at the break after goals from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins.
Salah teed up Trent Alexander-Arnold for a second-half equaliser and Arne Slot’s side battled to hold onto a point in the closing stages after substitute Darwin Nunez had missed a huge chance to put the Reds back ahead. Their lead at the top of the table may be a little bigger after tonight but they don’t have much momentum heading into huge matches against Manchester City and Newcastle over the course of the next week.
Salah’s sensational season continues
Liverpool may look inconsistent right now but Salah is anything but. The Egyptian’s historic season rolled on as he added another goal and another assist to his already jaw-dropping tally for the campaign.
Smashing home the match’s opening goal, Salah now has scored 15 away goals, more than any other player in a single season in Premier League history and the most by a Liverpool player in any league campaign since 1930/31. With 24 Premier League goals to his name, he would need another 12 across Liverpool’s 12 remaining matches to equal Erling Haaland’s record of 36 goals in a Premier League season.
And, in case you hadn’t heard, he’s a double threat. His assist for Alexander-Arnold was his 20th of the season across all competitions, the first Liverpool player to reach that mark since Steve McManaman in 1995/96.
This assist made Salah just the fifth player in Premier League history to register 15+ goals and 15+ assists in a single season, while it was the 10th time he has scored and assisted in a match this season (no other player has ever managed it more than seven times).
Incredibly, the Egyptian is the first player to score and assist in 10 different games in one of Europe's big-five leagues in a season since Lionel Messi did so on 11 occasions for Barcelona in 2014/15.
Salah is now just five goal involvements behind Thierry Henry’s record of 44 for a 38-match campaign. He will have that tally and the overall Premier League record (47 - Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer) in his sights.
Elsewhere, Liverpool were misfiring. Diogo Jota had six shots and failed to hit the target and then there was that huge Nunez chance (see below) after the Uruguayan was introduced. Could that be a huge moment in the title race? Or will Salah get enough help from his fellow forwards to get the Reds over the line?
High risk, high reward for Villa
Liverpool were only half the story, though, with Aston Villa having another say in the title race and going within four points of the top five. Villa won at Emirates Stadium last season, a result that ultimately derailed Arsenal’s title bid, and came from two goals down to draw there in January, with tonight’s scorers also netting in that 2-2 draw. It looks like they may have thrown another spanner in the works of a title challenger.
For a while it looked like Liverpool would have things their own way as the hosts played with fire. John McGinn was caught in possession on the edge of his own area twice in the opening stages and the opener came when Andres Garcia turned down a pass to the Scot and made a huge error, misplacing a backpass to put Liverpool through on goal.
Only Southampton have more errors leading to a goal than the 12 of Villa in the Premier League this season.
But there are two sides to that coin: it was a pass into McGinn in a risky area that brought about the equaliser, with Emiliano Martinez finding the midfielder on the edge of his own box. One swivel of the hips later and he was bursting through the middle pitch, leaving Curtis Jones wondering how he had slipped away. McGinn drove upfield and found Marcus Rashford, who won the free-kick that Tielemans would end up scoring from.
Villa’s high risk, high reward approach is evident with their high defensive line too and Liverpool had some joy in going direct, with Jota put through immediately after Villa had equalised and Dominik Szoboszlai timing multiple late runs to perfection from midfield to get in behind, including for the huge chance that Nunez should have buried to put Liverpool 3-2 up. With and without the ball, Villa take risks and that can make them so dangerous yet so vulnerable when things don’t quite come off.
Will Liverpool’s wobble open the door for Arsenal?
Liverpool won 11 of their opening 13 matches of the season, picking up 34 of a possible 39 points and only dropping points to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest, their two closest challengers for the title. After those 13 matches, the gap to Arsenal in second was nine points. But Slot’s men have only won seven of their 13 contests since, drawing the other six and keeping just three clean sheets in total. The gap to second is now eight points, with Arsenal having a match in hand.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
26 | +36 | 61 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
25 | +29 | 53 |
| 3 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
25 | +12 | 47 |
| 4 |
Man City
MCI
|
25 | +17 | 44 |
| 5 |
Bournemouth
BOU
|
25 | +15 | 43 |
But while this match was another nervy one, the performance was very different to the last two, which saw Liverpool outshot by both Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers, having only been outshot twice in their previous 23 Premier League matches under Slot. Normal order resumed at Villa Park as Liverpool fired off 17 shots to Villa’s nine.
Still, there was a nervousness, especially in the closing stages, and there has not been a convincing performance and result to match in any of Liverpool’s last three encounters.
Liverpool remain unbeaten away from home and have now claimed 16 points from losing positions - only Man City, with 17, have managed more.
A tough run of five matches in just 15 days concludes over the course of the next week with a trip to champions Man City — where Liverpool haven’t won in the league since before Pep Guardiola took over — and the visit of Newcastle, one of only two teams to score three goals in a match against Arne Slot’s side.
Over the same period, Arsenal host West Ham United, who are winless in their last four Premier League matches, and visit a Forest side who have suffered two defeats across their last three in the competition, albeit both away from home.
It’s going to be a massive week for the title race.
