Liverpool 2-0 Aston Villa (November 9, 2024) Match analysis

Liverpool extended a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League as Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah secured a 2-0 home win over Aston Villa on Saturday.

Manchester City’s earlier defeat was the perfect pre-match boost for Liverpool and Núñez’s 20th-minute strike after a lightning counter-attack set the tone at Anfield.

Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher made some crucial saves to keep his side’s lead, but Salah came through in the 84th minute to take the points and ensure a sensational start to the season under new coach Arne Slot.

They have won 15 of 17 games in all competitions since the Dutchman replaced Jurgen Klopp in the close season.

Liverpool go into the international break with 28 points from 11 games, while reigning champions City have 23.

Villa’s third league defeat of the season leaves Villa in eighth place with 18 points.

Slot saluted the ecstatic Anfield crowd after the final whistle and they roared their approval as the post-Klopp era continues to defy even the most optimistic predictions.

Liverpool were forced to work hard by a lively Villa side but combined a measured approach with lethal counter-attacks that could have yielded more than just two goals.

Núñez’s opening goal came from a Villa corner. As the ball was cleared, Virgil van Dijk’s pass sent Salah into the Villa half, and although he was beaten by Leon Bailey, the ball passed to Nunez, who rounded Emiliano Martínez and fired a right-footed shot into the goal from a tight angle.

Shortly afterwards, the Uruguayan Núñez should have made it 2-0 from an almost crazy situation.

Again Liverpool broke through the defense brilliantly and Núñez quickly broke through but with the goal at his mercy he shot over the bar.

Villa responded well and Kelleher, so impressive in the absence of regular Alisson, saved a glancing header from Amadou Onana.

Kelleher then made a great reflex save to block Diego Carlos’ shot from close range.

Villa looked in position to equalize after the break, but Salah thwarted them with his eighth league goal of the season.