The scenes at the end told the story: Villa players crumpled on the grass, Liverpool’s cavorting in almost incredulous glee. Jürgen Klopp’s team had been discombobulated by a fine Aston Villa side, frustrated by VAR and their own failings, and somehow came out all smiles. They are not going to relent easily in their title quest.
For a while here Villa looked set to inflict Liverpool’s first league defeat since January. Trézéguet, who was advised to join Villa this summer by
Mohamed Salah, scored his first goal for the club to give them a deserved lead. Dean Smith’s dynamic team frustrated their illustrious visitors for long periods thereafter. But Andy Robertson equalised in the 87th minute and ran straight into the net to retrieve the ball so that
Liverpool could get a winning goal. Sadio Mané provided it in the fourth minute of stoppage time.