The Sunday Mail
London. — MARVELOUS NAKAMBA was handed a rare start by Aston Villa against Liverpool, but the Warriors midfielder was powerless to stop a late rally by the Reds as they secured their first English Premiership win at Anfield in 2021 following a 2-1 win.
Nakamba has often been benched in most of Villa’s games this season, but his manager Dean Smith throws him into the fray in some of their big battles.
The Zimbabwean international lasted 66 minutes before being replaced by Englishman Rose Barkley with the scores level at 1-1.
Goals by Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander Arnold cancelled Villa’s goal from striker Ollie Watkins.
Having suffered a humiliating 7-2 defeat at Villa Park in October, defending champions Liverpool enjoyed a better start at Anfield as Salah and Diogo Jota tested visiting goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez with early attempts.
But Villa, against the run of play, found the breakthrough in the 43rd minute when John McGinn slotted a neat pass into Watkins, whose drilled effort slipped under Liverpool keeper Alisson’s right arm.
Liverpool responded almost immediately through Roberto Firmino but his goal was chalked off by VAR as Jota was adjudged to be marginally offside in the build-up.
Yet the hosts deservedly equalised 12 minutes into the second half through a Salah header after left-back Andy Robertson’s initial strike was palmed away by Martinez.
It was Liverpool’s first goal in open play at Anfield since December 27 — a run of 12 hours and 44 minutes since Sadio Mane found the net against West Bromwich Albion.
They netted one home goal from the penalty spot during that time.
Klopp’s side stepped up the intensity and Alexander-Arnold’s sublime effort secured all three points.
“We have lost a couple of games here and mentally it was like ‘oh no, not again’ but we did a good job second half,” Salah told Sky Sports.
“It’s really important to win. I think there are only seven games left? We want to play Champions League next year but we just need to focus on each game and try and win them all and hopefully, we can be in that fourth place.”
Villa boss Dean Smith, who was once again without the injured playmaker Jack Grealish, conceded his players struggled to create enough goal-scoring opportunities in the second half as they remain 10th in the table.
“We had some good opportunities but didn’t have that final pass,” Smith said.
“We have come to Liverpool, knew how they would play and how determined they were to put things right at Anfield but it’s disappointing to concede so late.”
Earlier on, Manchester City suffered their fourth Premier League defeat of the season, as 10-man Leeds United shocked the runaway leaders thanks to Stuart Dallas’s double in a 2-1 win at the Etihad.
Dallas opened the scoring three minutes before half-time, but hope of a famous win for Marcelo Bielsa’s men seemed to have disappeared when captain Liam Cooper was shown a straight red card in first-half stoppage time.
The visitors withstood a City bombardment until Ferran Torres equalised 14 minutes from time.
But Leeds still summoned the energy to pose a threat on the counter-attack and gained their reward when Dallas slotted below Ederson. – Reuters/Sports Reporter
Results:
Fulham 1 – 0 Wolves (Friday night)
Manchester City 1 – 2 Leeds
Liverpool 2 – 1 Aston Villa
Crystal Palace 1 – 4 Chelsea
