Analysis: Familiar Liverpool defeat exposes Aston Villa's attacking concerns

Arriving at Anfield full of confidence and expectation, targeting a fifth straight Premier League win, Unai Emery’s team departed having suffered a third consecutive defeat at the venue without scoring.

For the second season running, meanwhile, they were masters of their own downfall.

Whereas 12 months ago Villa conceded twice after being countered from their own corners, this time they quite literally gifted the opening goal to a home side who entered the game under all kinds of pressure, seeking to avoid becoming the first Liverpool team since 1953 to lose five straight league matches.

Emi Martinez passed straight to Mo Salah, who promptly side-footed home one of the easiest of the 250 goals he has now scored for the Reds. From that moment a match which had to that point been fairly even only looked like having one winner.

Ryan Gravenberch scored Liverpool’s second, aided by a helpful deflection off the boot of Pau Torres, shortly before the hour mark. Villa didn’t quit but never really looked a team who truly believed there was a route back.

Defeat must be placed in the context of a run which had already seen them claim wins over Tottenham and Manchester City.

A sequence which looked particularly daunting has delivered a six-point haul which, you suspect, Emery would have been more than happy to accept if offered beforehand. Had Villa won at Anfield and beaten three of the Premier League’s so-called Big Six on consecutive weekends, we’d probably be making the case for them currently being the second-best team in the country behind Arsenal.