Ollie Watkins double helps Aston Villa book Champions League spot

Aston Villa enjoyed a perfect send off ahead of the Europa League final as a 4-2 win over Liverpool booked their place in next season’s Champions League and left the Reds still sweating over their qualification.

Ollie Watkins’ double, which will surely secure his place in England’s World Cup squad, and classy goals from Morgan Rogers and John McGinn guaranteed Unai Emery’s men will finish in the top five of the Premier League with a game to spare.

They can now head to Istanbul for Wednesday’s European final against Freiburg knowing their domestic ambitions have been achieved, allowing them to put their full focus on winning a first continental trophy in 44 years.

It is another fine achievement for Villa, whose progress under Emery shows no signs of stopping and they will play in the premier European competition for the second time in three years.

Whether Liverpool will also be there is undecided as defeat leaves them looking over their shoulder, with Bournemouth and Brentford still able to overtake them.

Virgil van Dijk scored with two headers, but this was another directionless performance from the Reds as the pressure grew on Arne Slot, who presided over an alarming 12th defeat of the season.

Villa may have their biggest one-off game since 1982 on Wednesday, but Emery has always maintained the Premier League is his priority and his team selection suggested as much as they looked to get the job done.

The home side clearly did not have their mind in Istanbul as they began brightly.

Watkins was a livewire and had a real sight of goal in the eighth minute.

He ran the channel, went past Van Dijk as if he was not there, but skewed his shot over the crossbar from an inviting position.

For all of Villa’s early domination, they