Goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah either side of Matty Cash’s own goal helped Liverpool comfortably beat Aston Villa 3-0 at Anfield on Sunday on afternoon.
Szoboszlai opened his account for the Reds with a beautiful strike from outside of the area within the opening three minutes, after Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner had evaded everyone before bouncing into the path of the Hungarian, whose sweet left-footed effort arrowed into the net before Emiliano Martinez had time to react.
Alexander-Arnold, who survived a disastrous first half away to Newcastle United last weekend before improving to help Jurgen Klopp’s side come from behind and claim a massive victory despite only having 10 men, was certainly enjoying himself as captain in Virgil van Dijk’s enforced absence through suspension.
The England full-back’s delightful lofted pass over the top found the onrushing Salah, who unselfishly squared for Darwin Nunez inside the penalty area. Nunez’s finishing was surprisingly on the money when bagging a brace in that victory at St James’ Park, but he crashed his strike off the post, before the ball hit Cash – who had only moved back to right-back moments earlier due to Diego Carlos’ injury – and went into the back of the net.
The Anfield crowd smelt blood thereafter, with Villa’s high defensive line leaving them exposed to the pace of Salah and Nunez time and time again. The Egyptian, who appeared as motivated as ever despite ongoing links with a big-money move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad, cleverly left the ball for his strike partner due to knowing that he was in an offside position from the original pass, before coming alive on the second phase to feed Nunez once more. However, the raw Uruguayan forward’s deft chip was only accurate enough to strike the woodwork once more.
Salah could have got on the scoresheet himself in first-half injury-time when timing his run to perfection once more, before cutting inside from the right channel in trademark fashion, but his tame effort was straight at Martinez, who must have been the most relieved man in the stadium to hear referee Simon Hooper’s first-half whistle be blown.
However, there was little change after the break, despite Cash – who scored twice against Burnley last weekend – seeing his header superbly saved by Alisson. Not for the first time during the course of proceedings, Salah tore former Everton full-back Lucas Digne all ends up, before expertly finding Nunez at the back post with the outside of his boot. Once again, Nunez – who was at full stretch – could not send his effort on target.
Finally, though, the dangerous duo combined to essentially end the match as a contest in the 55th minute. Nunez met Alexander-Arnold’s out-swinging corner at the near post, with the ball flicking onto find Salah at the back post, and the 31-year-old never looked likely to fluff his lines from close range.
Salah’s celebrations were relatively muted, suggesting those transfer rumours are unlikely to go away before Saudi’s transfer window shuts next week, but for now Reds fans can breathe easy with an impressive tally of 10 points from a possible 12 going into the international break.
Villa, meanwhile, have plenty to ponder after suffering surprisingly heavy defeats from their trips to Newcastle and Liverpool, but there is nothing for Unai Emery to panic about with six points on the board themselves and a European campaign to look forward to.
