Liverpool 3-0 Aston Villa: Player ratings as Reds cruise to Anfield win
- Goals from Szoboszlai, Salah and a Cash own goal earned Liverpool a win
- Reds remain unbeaten in the Premier League this season
- Jurgen Klopp's team have now won their last three games
Liverpool head into the September international break still unbeaten in the Premier League thanks to a comfortable 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday.
Goals from Dominik Szoboszlai, Mohamed Salah and an unfortunate own goal from Matty Cash, ensured that the Reds cruised to a surprisingly easy three points against a high-flying Villa outfit.
The win sees Liverpool move onto 10 points from their first four games of the season.
How the game unfolded
Just three minutes into the game, the impressive Szoboszlai scored a fantastic opening goal. The new signing latched onto a headed clearance from a corner kick to brilliantly drill the ball across goal and into the bottom right hand corner of the net. It's fair to say that Liverpool fans are excited about the Hungarian's start to life at Anfield.
Liverpool dominated possession and territorially thereafter, and quickly made it 2-0 in the 22nd minute. After Salah found Darwin Nunez with a clever first time cross with the outside of his boot, the Uruguayan cannoned the ball off the post, then straight off Cash, and into the back of the net.
It was so nearly three a few minutes later when Joel Matip was found completely unmarked eight yards from goal from a Trent Alexander-Arnold set piece. The defender, however, skewed his subsequent header wide of the post.
Nunez would once again hit the bar late in the second half, dinking the ball off of the crossbar after being played through by Salah on the right side of the box.
Aston Villa finally showed some signs of life at the start of the second half, with Cash forcing Alisson into a smart save after being found at the back post by a whipped Lucas Digne cross.
Liverpool then went straight up the other end to create a great opening of their own. It would be an opening comically squandered by Nunez who, having been found by an outside of the boot pass by Salah, slammed the ball wide of an empty net from just six yards out. It was quite bad.
Salah spared Nunez's blushes soon after, being alive at the far post from a Nunez flick-on from a corner kick to tap home the Reds' third in front of the Kop.
The Egyptian superstar continued to cause havoc on the right flank after scoring, forcing Emi Martinez into a smart save with an ambitious volleyed effort.
CURRENT PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE, TOP SCORERS & FIXTURES
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Liverpool player ratings
GK - Alisson Becker - 6/10 - Forced into one decent save in the second half.
RB - Trent Alexander-Arnold - 7/10 - Villa couldn't deal with his range of passing at all.
CB - Joel Matip - 5/10 - Missed a fantastic chance in the first half.
CB - Joe Gomez - 6/10 - An easy outing in Virgil van Dijk's stead.
LB - Andy Robertson - 6/10 - Kept Villa's dangerman Cash very, very quiet on the right flank.
CM - Dominik Szoboszlai - 8/10 - Scored a brilliant goal to open the scoring. He's a serious player.
CM - Alexis Mac Allister - 7/10 - Another battling performance as Liverpool's midfield workhorse.
CM - Curtis Jones - 6/10 - Composed in and out of possession.
RW - Mohamed Salah - 8/10 - A typically great performance. He was at the heart of most good things the Reds did.
ST - Darwin Nunez - 5/10 - Hit the post, hit the crossbar and missed an open net. He was a constant threat with his runs in behind, but you can't miss that many chances. You just can't.
LW - Luis Diaz - 6/10 - Dynamic as ever out on the left flank.
Substitutes
SUB - Cody Gakpo ('64 for Nunez) - 6/10 - Linked play well.
SUB - Diogo Jota ('64 for Diaz) - 5/10 - Got involved when introduced.
SUB - Harvey Elliott ('64 for Jones) - 6/10 - Saw a decent long-range effort fly wide.
SUB - Jarrell Quansah ('72 for Alexander-Arnold) - N/A.
SUB - Wataru Endo ('87 for Mac Allister) - N/A.
Manager
Jurgen Klopp - 7/10 - His team were fluid in attack today. Much improved from what we seen at the very, very start of the season.
Aston Villa player ratings
GK - Emi Martinez - 5/10 - Didn't have much of a chance with any of Liverpool's goals.
CB - Ezri Konsa - 4/10 - Struggled against Liverpool's dynamic runners.
CB - Diego Carlos - N/A - Came off injured in the 20th minute.
CB - Pau Torres - 2/10 - Had a torrid time up against Nunez. A game to forget.
RWB - Matty Cash - 3/10 - From FPL dream last week to FPL nightmare this week. His own goal will see his FPL ownership plummet heading into the international break.
CM - Boubacar Kamara - 4/10 - Couldn't make his presence felt.
CM - Douglas Luiz - 4/10 - A passenger.
LWB - Lucas Digne - 5/10 - One good cross of note in the second half. That was it really.
RAM - Moussa Diaby - 4/10 - Barely touched the ball.
LAM - John McGinn - 4/10 - Didn't do enough on either side of the ball.
ST - Ollie Watkins - 4/10 - Kept very quiet.
Substitutes
SUB - Leon Bailey ('20 for Carlos) - 2/10 - A substitute that was substituted back off the pitch. Need we say anymore?
SUB - Nicolo Zaniolo ('64 for Bailey) - 4/10 - He didn't try particularly hard.
SUB - Jhon Duran ('73 for Watkins) - 5/10 - Gave it a go, at least.
SUB - Youri Tielemans ('73 for Luiz) - N/A.
Manager
Unai Emery - 4/10 - Changed his formation after 20 minutes when he realised his tactics weren't working. The formation he changed to didn't work either.