An emotional day for one Liverpool legend was settled by the cold, calculating precision of another. Mohamed Salah spoiled Steven Gerrard’s Anfield return with a nerveless penalty to keep Jürgen Klopp’s team within a point of the Premier League summit and leave the Aston Villa manager with plenty to regret.
Gerrard, heralded by the Kop during and after the second defeat of his brief Villa reign, bemoaned Stuart Attwell’s decision to award the decisive spot-kick and to refuse one to the visitors following Alisson’s rush of blood four minutes from time. But, with typical honesty, there was recognition of his former club’s superiority for much of an absorbing battle and of how things might have altered with earlier ambition on his part.
“There was certainly contact from Alisson on Danny Ings and, if you follow it, there is a two-hand shove on Ollie Watkins [from Trent Alexander-Arnold],” said the Villa manager. “We thought that deserved the referee and VAR taking another look but it looked like they wanted to move on quickly. Ultimately we have lost the game to the other pen which we felt was a foul first on Tyrone [Mings]. It feels harsh but penalty box to penalty box Liverpool were better than us. The plan was to try to take it to the latter stages and then get more of our attacking players on. We’ll analyse and I’ll look at myself and whether I should have done it earlier. We didn’t want to get too gung ho.”
Gerrard’s appraisal was fair, although there was no denying the merit of Liverpool’s victory or the quality of their response to losing to West Ham on 7 November. All seven matches since have been won, Liverpool have equalled a club record of scoring in 31 games in succession and Salah’s latest strike took his tally for the season to 21.
They were the dominant attacking force but repeatedly frustrated, too, as Gerrard’s side absorbed pressure, worked tirelessly and kept their shape. Klopp spent most of the game haranguing the fourth official, Graham Scott, over what he perceived as Attwell’s leniency but the lack of cutting edge from his title chasers was another cause of irritation. “We had conversations, not arguments,” was the Liverpool manager’s interpretation.
With Divock Origi joining Roberto Firmino on the injury list and Diogo Jota nursing a knock on the bench, the Liverpool manager deployed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as a false nine. The absence of a recognised striker told in the first half, despite the impressive efforts of Sadio Mané, with Salah on the margins and several inviting crosses going unpunished in front of Emiliano Martínez’s goal. Three rejected penalty appeals before half-time did little for Klopp’s mood, although none of the claims from Mané or Robertson was wholly convincing.
Though disciplined in organisation and faultless in industry, Villa’s midfield three of John McGinn, Marvelous Nakamba and Douglas Luiz were sloppy in possession, albeit in the face of a relentless Liverpool press, while Watkins was often too isolated from Ashley Young and Jacob Ramsey to threaten.
Traffic flowed mainly in the direction of Martínez’s goal. Salah almost scored when Fabinho’s lofted ball presented him with a first chance to attack Mings. Liverpool’s leading goalscorer cut inside the Villa captain and forced the keeper to save well at his near post.
Martínez denied Liverpool again early in the second half when Virgil van Dijk rose highest to a Robertson corner and sent a thumping header towards the roof of the net. The Argentina international tipped over from close range.
Liverpool pressure and penalty appeals finally told when Salah took on Mings again from the right. The Egypt international slipped into the area past the England defender, who stumbled as he tried to recover ground and clipped Salah’s left leg. Stumbled as a consequence of being fouled himself, Gerrard argued. Salah drilled the spot-kick so accurately that Martínez, despite diving the correct way, did not get close to the ball as it cannoned in off the inside of his left-hand post.
Villa responded well with the introductions of Emiliano Buendia, Morgan Sanson and Ings injecting greater menace and energy into the attack. Alisson, uncertain throughout, was fortunate to escape when he smashed a clearance into Joel Matip as the defender held off Ings and made contact with the ball and the former Liverpool striker in a desperate attempt to clear the loose ball. But Liverpool, and Salah, roll on.
Klopp said: “We were the better team for 75 minutes for sure and they opened up the game in the last 15 minutes because we lost rhythm a bit. We could have been better with the last pass and our decision-making could have been better but for 75 minutes we were outstanding.”
