Liverpool are eight points ahead of Arsenal at the top of the table. They’ve not lost a league game since September. Objectively, it’s going alright. But if they do end up allowing that 20th league title slip away this season, nobody can say the warning signs weren’t there.
It’s been a weird old week for Arne Slot’s side, and the Dutchman will be desperately hoping that’s all it is rather than the emergence of a longer-term trend that could get worryingly out of hand. They can respond to going behind, they can play well with the score all square, but the moment they have a lead to protect, they shrink into half the side.
That peculiar habit has seen them drop six points in eight games since the turn of the new year, and they could count themselves lucky that didn’t become eight points dropped at home to struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.
Liverpool put their dodgy second half against Wolves behind them and started brilliantly on and off the ball, with the substantial impediment of Diogo Jota being the only one of their players to carry his awful showing against Wolves into this encounter.
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After missing two very presentable early chances, Jota literally needed the ball giving to him by Andres Garcia to set up Mohamed Salah for a simple opener on 29 minutes. The striker had a simple job to intercept a pass intended for Emiliano Martinez and waltz all of two yards into the box before squaring for the Egyptian to smash home.
It was the easiest of goals to cap an overall straightforward first half-hour for the Liverpool, with an instantly and correctly disallowed Andy Robertson own goal off a cross from a wildly offside Marcus Rashford the only time Villa had threatened.
But just like against Everton, and just like against Wolves, going ahead bizarrely seemed to push a previously composed and in control Liverpool into a state of utter panic.
We should obviously acknowledge that newly-bolstered Aston Villa are absolutely no chumps, if inconsistent. So they were here, too: after going largely absent from the game for the first half hour, they were at times close to irresistible, albeit characteristically open on the counter-attack.
Arsenal are the only side to go to Villa Park in the Premier League this season and take the full three points. Getting a draw against Unai Emery’s side is an acceptable result even for the league leaders.
But it was shocking to see just how much and how quickly the basics abandoned Liverpool. It didn’t take excellence from Villa to open them up; mere competence was sufficient. That should not be the case when we’re talking about champions elect.
Scrambly set piece goals will happen, especially against Aston Villa’s famously well-drilled dead balls, but the one Youri Tielemans put away was much too straightforward nonetheless.
Jota produced his third and worst miss of the game just a minute later after getting in one-on-one with Martinez, only to forget to impart any curl whatsoever on his finish and instead fire it about 20 yards wide of goal.
Then Virgil van Dijk, the Premier League’s watch word for defensive solidity the past decade, decided to let Ollie Watkins go completely free to head home Lucas Digne’s cross from the left in first-half injury time.
Liverpool’s long-term tormentor Rashford then forced Ibrahima Konate to head off the line after rounding a much too rash Alisson as he needlessly rushed out of his box just a few minutes after the break. The only surprise by this point was that Liverpool actually had a single player with his wits about him enough to stop the shot.
The visitors continued to spurn their better fast breaks throughout the game, with Jota and his replacement Darwin Nunez both unable to make the most of getting in on Martinez again – but Liverpool got the slice of luck they needed to make it 2-2 as Trent Alexander-Arnold’s effort deflected past Martinez and into the net. They were then fortunate to survive a frantic period of injury time unscathed as they saw out the 2-2.
Few assaults on a league title are ever straightforward, and maybe it was daft to expect Liverpool’s would be completely plain sailing even with the commanding lead they have. But we’re not sure they should be making things as difficult for themselves as they are at the moment, either.
