Aston Villa fear comes true at Liverpool as Unai Emery rues missed opportunity

Aston Villa travelled to Anfield with optimism to extend Liverpool's struggles but will return to Birmingham empty-handed

Put that one down as a missed opportunity.

Before this matchweek, Villa had won six of their last seven games, while Liverpool had lost six of their last seven in all competitions. Indeed, no side had won more than Villa’s four in a row in the league, and no team was on a longer losing streak than Liverpool.

'Doctor Aston Villa will see you now,' was a comment from our Claret & Blue Fanzone show, which I remembered while driving up to Merseyside earlier this afternoon. I think that was everyone's fear - that Villa would give the Reds a helping hand in returning to form.

After beating Tottenham and Manchester City in their last two league games, it would feel disingenuous to criticise Villa after losing at Anfield. Yet how they succumbed to defeat is bitterly disappointing.

Yes, six points from nine in these three league games is probably a haul most fans would have taken, but this was not a match where Villa were expected to roll over. Frankly, considering the level of football being played across the league this season, failing to compete would have been a challenge in itself.

A win at Anfield would have taken Villa up to joint-second place after ten matches, and had Morgan Rogers opened the scoring in the sixth minute, Unai Emery’s side might well have been on their way.

That’s because Liverpool had conceded first in their last seven matches in all competitions, and the timing of those goals has not helped either, each opener arriving no later than the 16th minute.

In the 19th minute, Matty Cash tried to catch Giorgi Mamardashvili out by firing at his near post from a position where you’d have expected him to cross. A deflection off Virgil van Dijk made it awkward for the Georgian goalkeeper.

Liverpool, however, for the first time in eight games, managed to score the first goal - and it was gift-wrapped by Emi Martinez, who made a terrible error playing out from the back. His pass to Pau Torres was sloppy, allowing Mo Salah to pounce and fire into the net. What makes that moment of madness even more inexcusable is that Liverpool had breached Villa’s defence just three minutes earlier.

Hugo Ekitike, who headed past Martinez, was well offside - but that’s not the point. It should have served as a wake-up call to get to the break on level terms, with the game still very much in the balance.

Liverpool’s second goal came as a result of Pau Torres launching an aimless ball forward, which eventually came back to Ryan Gravenberch. His shot was deflected past Martinez by Torres’s block.

Like Villa and Arsenal, Liverpool have only lost two home league games since the start of last season. So when they scored first, a comeback was always going to be a challenge.

Yet Villa looked defeated from the start of the second half and were very much second-best, despite an evenly matched first half where they could have feasibly taken the lead and had a decent chance of finally winning here for the first time in 11 years.

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