Player Ratings – Aston Villa 7-2 Liverpool

Aston Villa stunned the footballing world when they smashed Premier League Champions Liverpool, 7-2 at Villa Park last night. It means that Villa have now won all three of their opening three Premier League games this season – totally a quarter of their points total from last season already.

A perfect hat-trick from Ollie Watkins, a double from Jack Grealish, John McGinn and Ross Barkley cancelled out Mo Salah’s double for Liverpool.

A fantastic performance from Dean Smiths men, we rate the players. Vote for your Player of the Match here.

Read the Aston Villa 7-2 Liverpool match report here.

PLAYER RATINGS

Emiliano Martínez 7 (out of 10)

The former Arsenal goalkeeper may have conceded two goals but he also prevented 2-3 others in a game he wasn’t as busy as he may have expected. Many gamers have signed him on the igaming website and he could prove to be one of Villa’s best signings in recent years on the field too.

Matty Cash 7

Struggled at times with Andy Robertson and Diogo Jota doubled up on him but he became stronger as the game went on. He did tuck in too close to Ezri Konsa earlier on but seemed to rectify this in the second half. I mentioned after the Fulham game that he is fastly becoming a favourite of mine and last night’s performance didn’t change my thoughts there.

Ezri Konsa 7

Another solid performance from Konsa who is starting to get the recognition far and wide as he deserves. Generally kept Bobby Firminio quiet most of the game.

Tyrone Mings 7

The England international looks back to his best and is forming quite the partnership with Konsa in the heart of the Villa defence. As long as these two can stay fit, Villa could have a solid spine for the remainder of this season.

Matt Targett 7

I have been overly critical of Targett in the previous two games because he simply wasn’t good enough. Villa fans have even called for a new left-back during the transfer window but credit where it’s due – Targett didn’t put a foot wrong against Liverpool.

Douglas Luiz 7

Douglas Luiz isn’t quite making the impact at the back end of last season but looks solid. They do say the best defensive midfielders go about their business without grabbing the highlights and he seems to be doing just this.

John McGinn 8

Back to his very best. The Scot was everywhere and helped dominate the midfield against the Premier League Champions. He even chipped in with a goal and assist. We’ve got our John McGinn back!

Ross Barkley 8

The Chelsea loanee would have been disappointed to come away from the game with just the one goal but what a debut! As I mentioned before, he helped dominate the Liverpool midfield and justified Smith’s decision to replace him with Conor Hourihane.

Trezeguet 8

A constant thorn in Liverpool’s backside going forward but may need to do a little bit more defensively to help out Cash at times who seemed to be left two on one at times. The Egyptian really seems to have upped his game since the arrival of Bertrand Traore. Contributed with an assist also.

Jack Grealish 9

My personal man of the match but I will give it to someone else and ill explain soon. Jack proved his few remaining doubters wrong with this performance (Yes, I am talking about a certain Graeme Souness). Solid performance who looked even more comfortable linking up with Ross Barkley. Two goals and three assists. The perfect captain’s performance.

Ollie Watkins 10

The perfect hat-trick. Do I need to say anymore? He could have had 2-3 more. Ollie Watkins gets man of the match for his first Premier League hat-trick and for making the so-called worlds best defender, Virgin van Dijk look extremely average. Well done Ollie!