Liverpool beat Aston Villa to go five points clear at Premier League summit

Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah fired Liverpool five points clear at the top of the Premier League as the 2-0 victory over Aston Villa clinically exploited Manchester City’s defeat earlier in the day.

Anfield was buzzing after the news came in of Brighton’s victory over the defending champions and for long periods the atmosphere crackled with the sense of expectation and opportunity.

It was not their most convincing victory under Arne Slot, who has now won 15 of his first 17 games, but took Liverpool to 28 points – a tally bettered only once in the last 34 seasons when they amassed 31 points at the same stage in 2019-20 on the way to lifting the league title.

It was sparked by Nunez, who scored one and missed two, which for him was a typical night in a red shirt.

The criticism levelled at the Uruguay international is that he is not reliable enough in front of goal to be first-choice number nine but he has a knack of making himself the centre of attention regardless.

His 66 minutes on the pitch was an encapsulation of that as his 20th-minute goal saw him react quickest to a loose ball to fire past Emiliano Martinez.

But faced with a long run on goal and only the Argentinian to beat from another corner breakaway he skied his shot into the Kop, while the close-range header he missed early in the second half would have undoubtedly made for a more comfortable night for the league leaders.

The winner was almost a throwback to the Jurgen Klopp era as Virgil van Dijk broke out from a Villa corner and played the ball into an empty Villa half for Salah to race onto.

He was clean through but went down in a tangle with the pursuing Leon Bailey.

Referee David Coote waved away claims for a foul – and potential red card – but Nunez was