European dream in Villa’s hand following draw against Liverpool

Aston Villa had the luxury of knowing that if they could take anything from Anfield, it would mean they had their destiny in their own hands going into the final game of the Premier League season against Brighton next weekend.

Tottenham had lost to Brentford earlier in the day, with the latter still having faint hopes of stealing a European Conference League spot.

Villa now finds themselves sitting 7th in the Premier League, one point ahead of Spurs and two ahead of Brentford in ninth.

Report: Liverpool 1-1 Aston Villa

The game was a game of two halves and Emi Martinez is testament to that. The Argentine had nothing to do in the first half while in the second, he would have been glad to hear the full-time whistle.

Unai Emery made three changes with Matty Cash, Lucas Digne and Boubacar Kamara replacing Ashley Young, Alex Moreno and Emi Buendia who all dropped to the bench.

John McGinn was pushed further forward to fill the gap left by Buendia and it was the Scotland International who played a ball over the top for Ollie Watkins who was then taken out by Ibrahima Konaté and the visitors were awarded a spot kick.

Watkins stepped up but could only fire it wide of the goal to the shock of most of Anfield.

Villa did find a way to break the deadlock just minutes later through Jacob Ramsey. Douglas Luiz sent in a delicious cross to the far post where Ramsey arrived and was able to slot a left-footed finish past Alisson in the Liverpool goal.

The visitors then came close to doubling their lead but Alisson was able to stick out a strong arm to stop Ramsey’s effort following what looked like a training ground set-piece routine.

The home side didn’t threaten Martinez until early in the second half when Mo Salah shot straight into the keeper’s arms.

Liverpool thought they had got themselves level with their second effort on goal. Cody Gakpo put the ball in the net after Tyrone Mings blocked Konate’s headed effort.

But VAR had different ideas as Virgil Van Dijk was judged to be in an offside position earlier in the move. Lucky escape for the Villans.

The hosts began to look frustrated until a late goal from Roberto Firmino who had earlier been introduced from the bench.

The Brazillian got behind Mings to get on the end of a Salah cross to draw Liverpool level.

Liverpool looked to throw everything at Villa in the TEN minutes of added-on time but never really looked like a threat for Martinez.

Analysis

It really was a game of two halves and Villa should probably have been out of sight by half time. That said, it was a very good point against an in-form Liverpool side.

A lot was made about time wasting due to comments made by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp but I think the German needs to look closer to home before saying anything. There were 8 minutes played at the end of the first half and another 10 after the second meaning they had an extra 18 minutes and only really created one clear-cut chance.

There was no mention of the persistent fouling by Fabinho who probably should have been booked after 2-3 challenges in the first half, and not after 8-9 fouls just before he was substituted after 81 minutes. There was no mention of Trent Alexander-Arnold being booked in the second half and then kicking the ball away (which in itself is another yellow).

Anyway, next up at home is Brighton. Villa will qualify for Europe as long as they at least match the results of Tottenham and Brentford. Its in our own hands, which is everyone we would have wanted.