DARWIN NUNEZ AND Mohamed Salah fired Liverpool five points clear at the top of the Premier League as the 2-0 victory over Aston Villa clinically exploited Manchester City’s defeat earlier in the day.
Anfield was buzzing after the news came in of Brighton’s victory over the defending champions and for long periods the atmosphere crackled with the sense of expectation and opportunity.
It was not their most convincing victory under Arne Slot, who has now won 15 of his first 17 games, but took Liverpool to 28 points – a tally bettered only once in the last 34 seasons when they amassed 31 points at the same stage in 2019-20 on the way to lifting the league title.
It was sparked by Nunez, who scored one and missed two, which for him was a typical night in a red shirt.
The criticism levelled at the Uruguay international is that he is not reliable enough in front of goal to be first-choice number nine but he has a knack of making himself the centre of attention regardless.
His 66 minutes on the pitch was an encapsulation of that as his 20th-minute goal saw him react quickest to a loose ball to fire past Emiliano Martinez.
But faced with a long run on goal and only the Argentinian to beat from another corner breakaway he skied his shot into the Kop, while the close-range header he missed early in the second half would have undoubtedly made for a more comfortable night for the league leaders.
The winner was almost a throwback to the Jurgen Klopp era as Virgil van Dijk broke out from a Villa corner and played the ball into an empty Villa half for Salah to race onto.
He was clean through but went down in a tangle with the pursuing Leon Bailey.
Referee David Coote waved away claims for a foul – and potential red card – but Nunez was alert to the opportunity and although his first touch took him wide of Martinez his second saw him fire into an empty net from a tight angle.
But faced with a one-on-one opportunity of his own from another Villa corner 12 minutes later he displayed the profligacy which has blighted his Liverpool career to date, having only been inches away from connecting with Salah’s deft chip moments earlier.
Liverpool may have dominated but in the space of a minute the visitors had four chances to equalise: Caoimhin Kelleher tipped over Amadou Onana’s header and then repelled Diego Carlos’ near-post flick from the next delivery, with Ryan Gravenberch blocking Ollie Watkins’ follow-up before Lucas Digne volleyed into the side-netting.
The loss of Trent Alexander-Arnold to a hamstring injury midway through the first half was a blow to Liverpool and England ahead of their forthcoming Nations League matches but it did not materially affect their performance.
Straight from the second half kick-off Morgan Rogers curled a shot wide after breaking down the left to serve warning that Villa were far from done, then Nunez was equally wasteful with his head from six yards out.
Villa’s claim for a penalty when Conor Bradley had hold of Pau Torres’ shirt at a free-kick was rejected by VAR but seemed a more valid shout than when Watkins went down theatrically in a shoulder challenge with the excellent Ibrahima Konate.
The visitors ramped up the pressure in the closing 15 minutes but it required Ezri Konsa to slide in to superbly deny Luis Diaz from yet another corner counter-attack.
However, Diego Carlos was not as fortunate when he headed against Salah, who raced away to beat Martinez for his eighth goal in 10 outings against Villa, who have lost four in a row under Unai Emery for the first time.
Written by Press Association and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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