By: Shane Brennan.
Steven Gerrard was back at Anfield in a competitive capacity for the first time since May 2015. Last month he took charge at Villa Park, to try and revive the fortunes of Aston Villa’s season. The former Liverpool skipper received a raptures welcome as he took his place in the away dugout.
It was a tight tense start to the game with no inch given by a determined Aston Villa side, it was clear that Liverpool were going to have to show a lot of patience to penetrate them. In the 8th minute Liverpool had a Claim for a penalty when Matty Cash brought down, Sadio Mané but it was deemed that there wasn’t sufficient contact on the Liverpool striker for a penalty to be given, much to his and Liverpool’s frustration.
Liverpool pressed again when Andy Robertson played the ball into the Villa penalty area, Mohammad Salah cleverly stepped over the ball to leave Alexander-Arnold free to have a shot on goal, and unfortunately Matt Targett was there to make the block to deny The Reds what would have been a wonderful opening goal.
Andy Robertson was next to test out Emiliano Martínez , when Trent Alexander-Arnold found him with a pin point cross to have a header on goal, but Martínez got down to make a smart save. Then Liverpool pressed the Villa defence into submission , Sadio Mané won the ball back off Marvelous Nakamba, the ball then ricashaed to Jordan Henderson, he was fouled but from the resulting tackle the ball found its way through to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who took a suburb shot, but sadly the ball just flew over the cross bar.
In the 26th minute Liverpool raced forward on the counter attack with, Sadio Mané he found Andy Robertson who weaved his way through the Villa defence, Robertson fell to the floor as Nakamba seemed to have clipped him, yet again no penalty was awarded. On the half hour mark, Villa had a chance of their own when Tyrone Mings played a ball forward looking for Ashley Young, Alisson Becker got in a total mix up allowing Young to get his cross into the Liverpool area, but thankfully Joël Matip was on hand to clear the danger and spare Alisson’s blushes.
Just before the interval Fabinho played in Mohammad Salah, he unleashed a cracker of a shot towards Emiliano Martínez goal, but the Aston Villa shot stopper got down smartly to deny him, which meant both teams went in on terms at the break.
Liverpool started the second half on the front foot, Sadio Mané won a corner off Aston Villa’s star man John McGinn. From the resulting set piece Andy Robertson found Virgil Van Dijk free in the box, He powered a header at Martínez which saw him pull off a stunning save. In the 60th minute Robertson found Salah, he tried to arrow a shot right into the top left hand corner of the net, but his shot went agonisingly wide, in what was beginning to look like a frustrating day for The Reds.
However in the 65th minute Mohammad Salah got in a tangle of legs with Aston Villas Tyrone Mings, the Villa defender was adjudged to have taken down Salah, and the penalty was awarded. Emiliano Martínez danced up and down on his line, Salah wasn’t fazed in the slightest as he planted an unstoppable shot into the bottom right hand corner of the net as the Kop breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Villa had a good chance of their own, when Emi Buendía set up Matty Cash to put a threatening ball into the box, luckily Robertson and Matip were there to clear the ball between them. In the 86th minute Liverpool had their most worrying moment of the game when Morgan Sanson tried to play in former Liverpool striker Danny Ings, Alisson came racing out of his goal as he kicked the ball straight off Joël Matip, Alisson then panicked as he tackled Ings.
Ings went to ground bellowing for a penalty, but fortunately VAR saw nothing untutored with the incident. Towards the end of the game Fabinho played Salah through on goal, the ball deflected to Diogo Jota but he could only blaze his shot over the cross bar. Villa huffed and puffed, however it wasn’t to be for Gerrard and co as Liverpool held on for a massive victory to leave them a point behind Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
Up next for Liverpool is the visit of Eddie Howes Newcastle United on Thursday night.
By: Shane Brennan.
