sitemaster Dr Solomon Chollom
Lead Correspondent, Jos
Liverpool had a night to forget at Villa Park last Sunday when they went up against an inspired Aston Villa side that avoided relegation to championship on the last day of the 2019/2020 season.
Since their successful battle against relegation, the Dean Smith tutored side has reinforced, not just in their playing staff and strategy but also in confidence. The team which succeeded in tying their start attacker, Jack Grealish, to a long term contract had claimed maximum points and that without conceeding a goal in their premier league outings this season before their meeting with the defending champions, Liverpool
Liverpool on the other hand had picked maximum in their opening three matches of the campaign with memorable wins against title rivals, Chelsea and Arsenal, although without conceeding four times in the process, with three of the goals from the first game against newly promoted side, Leeds United.
Aston Villa underlined their determination to winning the game by dominating possession from the blast of the whistle with early attempts on goal
With a raft of changes from the team that got eliminated from Carabao cup by Arsenal on Thursday night, Adrain retained his place in goal following a late injury to first team goalkeeper, Allison Becker
With sustained early pressure from Villa, it was the stand-in goalkeeper, Adrain, that would misplace a pass in the box to put Joe Gomez on a ghost chase of the ball which Watkins benefited from to open his account on goal at the fourth minute of the encounter. The former proceeded to have his worst outing so far in his Liverpool career with series of costly judgements that led to his substitution midway in the second half while the latter proceeded to bag a hat trick in a game he brimmed with confidence.
It was a night the defending champions failed to claw back int the game as the first half ended 4-1 with Mo Salah giving the team a lifeline when they were two goals down but Villa hit back almost immediately to double their advantage before the break.
The second half was to be more dramatic with Villa bagging three more goals while Salah again found the back of the net to take his season's tally to five as the game ended in an embarrassing 7-2 to put the credentials of the defending champions to question.
Liverpool endured a torrid experience on the pitch as they could not find a solution to the mesmerizing runs of Aston Villa attackers with most of the goals coming off wicked deflections from shots that left the Liverpool second choice goalkeeper gravitating helplessly towards the opposite direction.
The only consolation for Liverpool, perhaps, was the fact that they are the only team that have breeched the defence line of Aston Villa this season to put two past the in formed newly acquired goalkeeper, Martinez, from Arsenal Whether Liverpool will shake off this shambolic outing in time and whether Villa will sustain this impressive start to their campaign or make it a mere flash in the pan is what remains to be seen after the international break
