For the return of the Premier League, Liverpool travelled down to Birmingham for a Boxing Day clash against Aston Villa.
Jürgen Klopp made mass changes to the side that was knocked out of the League Cup by Manchester City, with Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson all returning after their World Cup campaigns ended in disappointment. Liverpool set up in their usual 4-3-3 formation.
New manager Unai Emery made four changes to the team that went into the World Cup break with a win over Brighton. Key to Argentina’s World Cup victory, Emiliano Martinez was replaced by Robin Olsen, while Ashley Young, Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins filled in for Matty Cash, Jacob Ramsey and Danny Ings. Aston Villa lined up in a 4-4-2 shape.
Liverpool took the lead with just their second chance of the game. Villa repelled a corner but it went only as far as Alexander-Arnold, who looped a pass back into the box with the outside of his boot to Andy Robertson, who squared the ball first time to Mohamed Salah to finish. The Villa backline were caught square as they pushed out and Liverpool simply moved the ball too fast for them to catch up.
This early goal did little to wake up Villa, who were looking lethargic and kept giving the ball away easily. Liverpool’s press was set up so that Darwin Nuñez and Salah would pick up the Villa centre-backs, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain would mark Young out on the flank and Thiago Alcântara and Henderson would push up onto Douglas Luiz and Boubakar Kamara. This left Lucas Digne free on the left, but Henderson would sprint out to meet him if Villa passed to him and they rarely actually did so, trying to play out through the midfield rather than using the free man.
Villa weren’t looking particularly strong defensively either. With Joël Matip and Van Dijk splitting wider and Henderson or Thiago often dropping back alongside Fabinho, Bailey and Watkins were easily played around to work the ball into midfield, while Villa kept a fairly high line despite being unable to put much pressure on the ball, allowing Liverpool to play several passes over the top for runners in behind.
Liverpool doubled their lead from another corner. Focussing on wrestling with the attackers, the Villa defenders didn’t get the ball away, with it deflecting off of Tyrone Mings toward goal, and Salah got to the loose ball and touched it down to Van Dijk to finish on the half-volley.
Villa finally woke up after half-time. Their best moments in the first half came when they played straight to the forwards, so now they were playing quick passes forward. John McGinn and Emiliano Buendia tucked in off the flanks, looking to overload Liverpool’s midfield, before spraying quick passes in behind for the forwards to run onto, or spreading the ball wide to Digne, finally involved.
Villa soon pulled a goal back. Liverpool failed to properly clear the ball, enabling McGinn to play back to Luiz outside the box, who had the time to take a touch and pick out a cross to Watkins at the back post to head home. With Digne free out on the opposite flank, Alexander-Arnold had turned out, anticipating a switch of play, but this left him in a bad position to compete for a header as Watkins moved out down Matip’s blind side.
Klopp made a double substitution soon after, bringing on Harvey Elliott and Naby Keïta for Oxlade-Chamberlain and Thiago. This saw Liverpool drop back into more of a 4-4-2 shape, with Elliott helping to protect Robertson, although it would sometimes be a 4-5-1 when Salah tracked back on the opposite flank too.
With ten minutes to go, Liverpool added another. Substitute Joe Gomez knocked a ball in behind for Nuñez to run onto and Olsen parried the Uruguayan’s cross-cum-shot towards the penalty spot, where Stefan Bajcetic, after coming on just a minute earlier, collected the ball, took a touch to round the goalkeeper and finished through Mings’ legs for his first Premier League goal.
After strengthening their lead, Liverpool were able to comfortably hold out to claim the three points.
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