Liverpool v Aston Villa LIVE: Premier League result and reaction as Reds return to the top of the table
Liverpool 2-0 Aston Villa: Nunez and Salah strike for the Reds to take them five points clear at the top
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Your support makes all the difference.Liverpool continued Arne Slot’s dream start to his tenure with a confident 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday night.
The Reds dominated early on, eventually capitalising as Mo Salah ran clear on the counter and Darwin Nunez collected the ball to fire past Emi Martinez.
Both sides had chances in the rest of the first half, with Villa forcing two great saves from Kelleher, though the first half ended with the home side ahead.
The second half was a far less eventful affair, with Liverpool dominating possesion but both sides finding it difficult to carve out clear-cut chances.
As Villa chased an equaliser, Salah chased a clearance and came off better, with the ball defelcting into his path to take him one-v-one by the halfway line. The Egyptian raced to the Villa box and calmly lifted a chip over Martinez to finish the match and take Liverpool back to the summit of the Premier League.
Follow all the Premier League action with our live blog below:
Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa
79 mins
Diaz thinks he’s away but he’s penalised for a foul, and Villa will have a chance to get forwards. Rogers leads the counter and does very well to skip past one challenge and win a corner from Konate.
Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa
77 mins
Kamara is booked for stopping the counter and Liverpool have a free-kick 30-odd yards out. Robertson swings it in, but Villa manage to clear. They do mount a counter-attack but Philogene takes too much time and is dispossessed by Diaz.
Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa
76 mins
Szoboszlai does brilliantly to nip in and win the ball to start the counter, and he plays in a dangerous early cross that narrowly runs behind Gakpo!
Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa
74 mins
Villa make two changes as Ian Maatsen and Boubacar Kamara replace Digne and Onana.
Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa
73 mins
The away side are really struggling to keep the ball at the moment here, with another attack coming to nothing despite good work from Onana.
Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa
72 mins
Gakpo has his first real opportunity since coming on as he latches onto a long ball, cuts inside and curls an effort over.
Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa
70 mins
McGinn concedes a cheap free-kick on the right after a silly foul on Bradley. Szoboszlai delivers it, and it runs to Gakpo at the far post, but he can only clip a cross into Martinez’s gloves.
Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa
68 mins
Van Dijk sends forward a long ball to Diaz, but the Colombian can’t make anything of it and hits a tame cross right to Martinez. However, Villa are forced to play long and Liverpool win it back within seconds.
That’s been the pattern of the second half so far, really.
Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa
66 mins
The game has lost some of its frenetic pace, but Liverpool will probably be happy about that. They’re dominating possession, and so far Villa have found no way through the defence, expect for from a couple of corners.
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