Aston Villa scored four first half goals to humiliate Liverpool, English Premier League (EPL) champions, 7-2 at Villa Park on Sunday, thanks to a hat-trick from Ollie Watkins and Jack Grealish’s brace.
Watkins becomes the first player to score an hat-trick against Liverpool in the EPL since 2010.
Liverpool also conceded seven goals for the first time in 57 years since their 7-1 loss at Tottenham in 1953.
The Reds were missing some key players including Sadio Mane and Thiago Alcantara, who are currently self-isolating after contracting COVID-19, while Alisson Becker, their goalkeeper, suffered an injury in training.
Becker was sorely missed as Adrian, his replacement, was at fault when Aston Villa took the lead on four minutes.
The Spanish goalkeeper passed directly to Grealish who squared for Watkins, the club’s record signing, to tap home his first ever EPL goal.
Watkins scored a better goal to double the Villains lead on 22 minutes but Liverpool halved the deficit against the run of play on 33 minutes through Mohamed Salah’s characteristic strike.
Aston Villa restored their two-goal advantage through John McGinn’s deflected shot for 3-1, and more poor defending from the Reds made it 4-1 going into the interval through Watkins’ third goal.
The English striker’s header completed his hat-trick against the bewildered champions.
Liverpool improved in the second period but conceded a fifth goal ten minutes after the restart with another deflected goal through Ross Barkley.
The midfielder, on loan from Chelsea, saw his shot from 20 yards come off Diogo Jota before looping over Adrian’s desperate dive.
The end-to-end game saw Liverpool and Aston Villa trade goals, first, Salah making it 5-2 on 60 minutes with a quick shot from Firmino’s pass, while Grealish scored twice to increase Villa’s lead.
The 25-year-old scored a deflected goal — Villa’s third of the game — for 6-2, and ran 50 yards unchallenged before slotting home to make it 7-2 with fifteen minutes left to play.
By Jonathan Ledger/TheCable
