Hard-fought: 5 things we learned as Liverpool win 1-0 vs Aston Villa

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Liverpool won 1-0 vs Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon. Here are five things we learned from the Anfield fixture.

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Liverpool went into this one against Aston Villa without their first three options at centre-forward. Roberto Firmino is out for a few more weeks, it seems, while both Diogo Jota and Divock Origi picked up problems this week.

Jota did sit on the bench but it was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who started in the False 9 role. We’ve been very impressed with him in recent weeks – although, in a midfield role.

And in truth, Oxlade-Chamberlain struggled here. He didn’t get anywhere near as involved as Liverpool needed him to be and while he had his moments, nothing really came off for him. The 28-year-old can play there at a push but he’s certainly not a serious option.

Alisson’s bad day

Alisson kept a clean sheet here but only just. He had two moments in the game that were almost comical – but he got away with them.

The first saw him slip as he came out to deal with a long ball. He tried to recover but couldn’t get up high enough to clear the long ball. Fortunately, Liverpool were able to prevent an open goal.

The second came from a through-ball that Alisson simply didn’t clear. Villa split Liverpool open with it but the Brazilian should have got it away. Instead, he fired his clearance against Joel Matip, resulting in a bit of chaos and a penalty shout.

Somehow, Alisson got away with it again – and kept his clean sheet. We’re not sure how after a very rare performance from him.

Control

Both teams looked to control this game in different ways and both teams did a pretty good job of it. Villa wanted to give up possession and prevent Liverpool form creating anything clear. The Reds simply wanted to stop the counter-attack and pile pressure on their opponents.

In the end, you’d have to say Liverpool were successful. Just. They limited Villa to no clear shots on goal from their counters and did pile the pressure on – even if they didn’t create as much as hoped.

Mohamed Salah’s penalty proved enough here, so you can’t really fault the Reds. Liverpool only just succeeded against Villa, though.

Dominance

Liverpool’s centre-backs were near-perfect here, save for a couple of strange Virgil van Dijk errors. But the Dutchman and Joel Matip combined for 11 headers here – with a 100% success rate (per Whoscored).

That’s quite unbelievable and a level of dominance that we’re unsure any other centre-back pairing could match. Villa tried to get at Liverpool with some physicality up top but neither Van Dijk nor Matip allowed for it. Matip, in particular, stood out for us.

The two of them kept a determined Villa side quiet and right now, are unquestionably the best pairing at the club.

2019 all over again

It does feel a little like the 2019/2020 season right now. Liverpool forced a win against Villa, even without things going their way today.

It’s how Jurgen Klopp and co. won the title, after all. Winning games they probably should have drawn – we saw it last week against Wolves and saw it again here.

That’s a wonderful sign, seeing as it comes right after a string of dominant wins. Liverpool keep finding their way to points right now and that might result in a trophy come May.