Another night to forget for Núñez as Liverpool draw at Villa - ESPN

BIRMINGHAM, England — With the goal at his mercy, Darwin Núñez took aim and fired a shot well wide of the target.

It is a sentence that has been applicable on several occasions since the Uruguay international joined Liverpool in an initial £64 million deal from Benfica in summer 2022. But in his team's 2-2 draw with Aston Villa on Wednesday night, Núñez's profligacy proved particularly costly as Arne Slot's side missed out on the chance to go 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League table with 12 games to go.

From a neutral's perspective, this pulsating contest was one of the games of the Premier League season so far, with goals from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins cancelling out Mohamed Salah's opener before Trent Alexander-Arnold's deflected strike rescued a precious point for the league leaders at Villa Park. From Liverpool's point of view, however, this — much like last week's draw against Everton at Goodison Park — was a missed opportunity to really assert their authority in the title race.

Wednesday's clash in the West Midlands was the third fixture in a testing run of five games in 15 days for Liverpool. After conceding at the death in the Merseyside derby and edging to a narrow victory over strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, there has been a growing sense that nerves are starting to creep in for Slot's side as the season nears the business end.

The Dutchman dismissed that notion in his prematch news conference, but at times against Villa, his players looked as if their most fearsome foe was in their own minds as opposed to anyone in a claret and blue shirt. There were fireworks even before a ball was kicked, with the prematch pyrotechnics at Villa Park adding further credence to the sense