Salah grabs another goal and assist but Liverpool held in frantic Aston Villa draw
EQUALISER: Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold celebrates scoring their side's second goal of the game. Pic: Nick Potts/PA Wire.
MO Salah’s season for the ages continued, with a goal and assist at Villa Park, although whether Arne Slot’s side will enjoy the same remains to be seen, after they wasted the chance to open up a 10-point gap at the top of the Premier League.
After Villa cancelled out Salah’s opener, through Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins, it was left to Trent Alexander-Arnold to rescue a point for the leaders who continue to give their rivals just a glimmer of hope with some recent indifferent form.
“We’re a bit disappointed but we fight on,” said Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk. "We had chances to win the game, took a bit of a risk at the end, so it got more open at times but we take a point and move on and focus on a big one at the weekend, again.
"We tried everything and unfortunately it wasn't enough for three points, but credit to Aston Villa, they made it very difficult. We have a very tough one on the weekend again at Manchester City, then we play Newcastle - we’ll do everything in our power to win games, the focus will be that on Sunday again.”
With the hosts threatening to self-destruct on numerous occasions over the opening half-hour, Salah finally made Villa pay when he opened the scoring following yet another unforced error.
Full-back Andres Garcia inexplicably played the ball back without looking, directly to Diogo Jota, who advanced before squaring for the unmarked Salah to lash the ball into the roof of the goal from eight yards.
But Villa, without a win in their last four league games, wasted no time in responding with debutant Marcus Rashford involved with a threatening delivery into the area from a free-kick after 38 minutes.
Liverpool tried, but failed, to clear and when Tyrone Mings’ header was blocked by Dominik Szoboszlai, the rebound fell for Tielemans to score with a composed, and powerful, shot.
Villa were not finished there and, as the first half entered the final minute of three added on, they took the lead against a side whose only Premier League defeat of the season thus far had come against Forest in mid-September.
It was a goal that exposed some uncharacteristically poor basic defending from the league leaders as Watkins played a short pass to Lucas Digne, continued his run into the area, and met the full-back’s cross with a superb glancing header into the corner of the net.
It was the prelude to a thrilling second half, played with the urgency of a last day of the season, rather than a midweek game in February.
Moments after Jota had clipped the cross-bar, Alexander-Arnold launched a 61st-minute counter-attack, played in Salah who proved too strong for Digne before returning the ball to the defender who scored via a deflection off Mings.
With that assist, Salah had 15 for the season, to go with his 24 goals; his 39 total goal involvements more than 11 Teams have scored in the Premier League this season.
And if substitute Darwin Nunez had shown more composure on 68 minutes, Liverpool might have had the win but the striker rushed an astonishing miss high and wide of an open goal from six yards, after Dominik Szoboszlai squared to him.
All of this after an extraordinarily poor start from Villa, clearly rattled by Liverpool pressing high up the field and virtually incapable of moving the ball freely upfield, with Virgil van Dijk and Jota, twice, missing great chances in the opening minutes.
But Villa, handing first starts not only to Rashford but also to on-loan PSG forward Marco Asensio, survived and grew into the contest, in no small part due to the confidence shown by the Manchester United man.
Rashford’s Old Trafford career may be in tatters but has found a fitting home with Villa - predictably booed by visiting supporters every time he touched the ball, Rashford has had the opposite effect on home fans, galvanising them.
A couple of sorties down the left, where he willingly took on Alexander-Arnold, lifted Villa out of their early funk and he even, for a split second, had home supporters believing they had taken the lead on 16 minutes when Andy Robertson turned his cross into his own goal before being ruled offside.
Indeed, the game was building quite nicely.
One minute, Szoboszlai being played through on goal by Curtis Jones and forcing Emiliano Martinez into an important block; the next Villa pressing from a corner and Axel Disasi picking up a yellow for catching Alexis Mac Allister in the face.
And, still, Villa remained susceptible at the back.
Digne, not for the first time, was hurried into a mistake which allowed Robertson to cross for Salah whose header was surprisingly wayward.
It was hardly a shock, therefore, when the goals started flying in although Jota, not having his most clinical night in front of goal, should have made it 2-1 when he curled a terrible finish well wide, when clean through from Robertson’s excellent pass.
Liverpool’s poor defending for the goals was on show again, however, early after the restart, Alisson rushing from his goal but losing a foot race with Rashford to a long Digne pass. The Villa forward chipped towards the keeper-less net, where Ibrahima Konate headed off the line.
The frantic opening 70 minutes did not let up, with both sides pressing for the win, with a Jacob Ramsey “goal” ruled out for offside, Morgan Rogers blazing over and Donyell Malen shooting just wide for Villa, and that dreadful Nunez miss.
Liverpool boss Slot admitted he was disappointed with the outcome. “I’m not happy with a 2-2,” he said. “I wasn’t happy to be 2-1 down at half-time, that didn’t reflect the first half, but if you concede a set-piece things can change quickly.
“Darwin Nunez is disappointed with his miss. He’s right-footed but it was still a big chance and he was very unlucky. I was hoping he would get another one because a player like him wouldn’t miss two chances in a row.”
Martinez 7; Garcia 5 (Cash 67, 5), Disasi 6, Mings 5, Digne 6 (Maatsen 78, 5); McGinn 6 (Bogarde 87), Tielemans 8; Rogers 6, Asensio 7 (Malen 67, 5), Rashford 7 (Ramsey 67, 5); Watkins 7.
Alisson 6; Alexander-Arnold 7 (Bradley 66, 6; Quansah 89), Konate 8, Van Dijk 6, Robertson 6; Gravenberch 7, Mac Allister 6 (Diaz 80); Salah 7, Szoboszlai 6, Jones 7; Jota 6 (Nunez 66, 4).
C Pawson 7.
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