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| Image: Bajcetic is congratulated by Klopp at the full-time whistle |
Mohamed Salah opened the scoring for Liverpool after just five minutes and Jurgen Klopp's side doubled the advantage late in the half when Virgil van Dijk's shot deflected into the far corner of the net. But Villa's second-half salvo threatened a comeback.
Ollie Watkins' expertly placed header halved the deficit and chances continued to flow at both ends in a wide-open contest with Darwin Nunez particularly wasteful. But "cheeky teenager" Stefan Bajcetic, as his manager called him after the game, came off the bench to score his first senior goal and seal the points for Liverpool.
Player ratings
Aston Villa: Olsen (7), Young (7), Konsa (6), Mings (6), Digne (7), Luiz (7), Kamara (7), McGinn (7), Buendia (7), Watkins (7), Bailey (6).
Subs: Ings (n/a), Coutinho (n/a), Dendoncker (n/a).
Liverpool: Alisson (7), Alexander-Arnold (7), Matip (6), Van Dijk (8), Robertson (8), Fabinho (7), Thiago (6), Henderson (7), Oxlade-Chamberlain (6), Nunez (7), Salah (8).
Subs: Elliott (6), Keita (6), Gomez (6), Bajcetic (8), Doak (n/a).
Player of the match: Mohamed Salah.
The result marks Unai Emery's first Premier League defeat since replacing Steven Gerrard and there were certainly positives for the Spaniard. But such is the potency of this Liverpool team, going toe-to-toe with Salah and the rest always looked to be a risk.
How Liverpool beat Villa
Liverpool were on their way to a third consecutive Premier League win for the first time this season early in the game thanks to Salah's breakthrough goal and it was a beauty. Trent Alexander-Arnold's outrageous pass found Andy Robertson who set up Salah.
It was a reminder of how Liverpool can cut through the opposition with high quality and with Villa opting for a high defensive line there were opportunities throughout. But the home side caused plenty of problems at the other end - and it made for a great game.
Team news
Emiliano Martinez was absent for Aston Villa due to Argentina’s World Cup celebrations with Robin Olsen deputising. Ashley Young, Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey also came in for Matty Cash, Danny Ings and Jacob Ramsey as the four changes from the win over Brighton.
Jurgen Klopp made three changes to the Liverpool team that defeated Southampton before the break with Joel Matip, Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain coming in for Joe Gomez, Harvey Elliott and Roberto Firmino. It was Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first Premier League start in 10 months.
Watkins wasted a couple of chances and Leon Bailey miskicked when well placed. It proved costly when Salah teed up Van Dijk to measure the ball into the net on his left foot, the strike finding its way past Robin Olsen after deflecting off defender Ezri Konsa.
But Villa kept coming. Watkins evaded Joel Matip to head the ball into the corner and the momentum looked to be with Emery's men. Nunez would have had to take the blame for the dropped points following a number of misses - but instead he set up the key goal.
After bursting away down the left channel, the Uruguayan did well to keep the ball in play and substitute Bajcetic showed real composure to skip past Olsen before beating Tyrone Mings on the goal line. It was tough on Villa but Liverpool's quality told in the end.
About Bajcetic, Liverpool's new midfielder
"He's cheeky as hell and he is not worried about anything," was Klopp's assessment of Bajcetic's display at Villa Park, when the midfielder became Liverpool's third-youngest scorer in just his seventh appearance for the club.
After Monday night's brief cameo in the Midlands - Bajcetic was only on the pitch for two minutes before showing real composure to give his side a 3-1 lead - Liverpool fans will be keen to see more of the 18-year-old Spaniard.
Bajcetic joined the club from Celta Vigo's youth academy in February 2021 for €250,000 as Liverpool beat archrivals Manchester United to his signature and after impressing as a centre back for both the U18s and U23s, he was called up for the first team's preseason tour of Asia and Austria last summer.
The youngster - who comes from footballing stock with his dad, Srdan, a former Serbia international - was an unused substitute in Liverpool's Premier League opener at Fulham in August, the same month he extended his contract at Anfield. And he then came off the bench to make his debut with 20 minutes to go in a 9-0 win against Bournemouth, his only previous top-flight minutes before Monday.
Other landmarks soon followed as Bajcetic became the Reds' youngest Champions League performer having featured against Ajax in September, while he started his first game for the club as a holding midfielder in their League Cup win over Derby County in November.
It is as a No 6 where Klopp sees the versatile Spain U18 international's best position, something that could save FSG from having to enter the transfer market in January.
"He just plays football and he can do that exceptionally well," said Klopp of his new young charge, whose brief goalscoring performance at Villa he said was "like a Christmas story".
"He had a football-playing father, so the genes are there but also the attitude, awareness and match intelligence. It's a big pleasure to work with these boys."
Klopp: We have to be the pain in the backside for everybody
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said: "I loved it. In a difficult game we played a lot of good stuff. We were not superior in all moments, especially at the start of the second half when Aston Villa were clearly better. We lost rhythm there, and when you lose rhythm in an intense game it's difficult to come back.
"But we found ways to get out of that. We had some massive counter-attacks and could have scored the third goal much earlier. I loved the start of the game, that was really, really good and exactly what we wanted.
On closing the gap to the top four: "We have to be the pain in the backside for everybody. That's how it is. Of course, we are the chasers.
"We are not in the best position, there is distance between us and other teams. The first two or three are maybe too far away, I don't know. If they win all their games we have no chance.
"But there are other teams [battling for] the Champions League spots at the moment and we have to do our part. That means winning football games and we will see how close we can get. It must be the target, to qualify for the Champions League. For that we have a lot of games still to go for. We all have to go through difficult moments in games, between games and after them.
"We got three points today and that's the best way to get closer to these spots. Of course we go for that, no doubt about it, we don't think we have it. Not at all, as all the teams up there have played an exceptional season. It's just as long as we can see them, then we will fight for getting them, that's it."
Emery: The result was tough for us
"Really disappointed. We did a great effort. It's so hard for us. I think the first half we started well. We created chances. We didn't score and conceding two goals from set-pieces isn't normal because we are working well on the set-pieces. The result was a little bit tough for us.
"The second half we needed to keep, again, our game plan and to try to get chances to score and opportunities to come back. We played for 30 minutes very well. We scored, we created chances and we were better than them, I think."
Did you make substitutions too late? "No. The most important thing I think is to keep the same position we were speaking about… the possibility of having possession, don't concede the easy transition and, if someone lost his position, they done it and, second half, we reacted very well."
Liverpool's win in stats
Liverpool have won three consecutive Premier League games for the first time since winning their final three games of the 2021-22 campaign
Liverpool full-back Andrew Robertson assisted his 54th Premier League goal in this match, making him the all-time leading assister among defenders in Premier League history
Mohamed Salah scored his 55th away Premier League goal for Liverpool; the joint most of any Reds player, level with Michael Owen
Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins has scored five goals in five Premier League appearances against Liverpool, two more than he's scored against any other side
Stefan Bajcetic scored his first Premier League goal aged 18 years and 65 days, becoming Liverpool third youngest Premier League scorer, behind Michael Owen and Raheem Sterling
Ben Doak came off the bench for Liverpool to make his Premier League debut aged 17 years and 45 days, becoming the youngest ever Scottish player in the competition's history
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