Match ends, Aston Villa 7, Liverpool 2.
Aston VillaAston Villa7LiverpoolLiverpool2
Ollie Watkins scored a first-half hat-trick and Jack Grealish had a hand in five goals as Aston Villa deservedly stunned champions Liverpool with one of the most unbelievable scorelines in Premier League history.
Villa's record signing Watkins had never scored a Premier League goal before kick-off and 45 minutes later he had the match ball, as the home side took advantage of Liverpool's high line and individual mistakes.
Captain Grealish scored their final two goals after assisting three.
It is the first time Liverpool have conceded seven goals since 1963 and is only their fourth Premier League defeat since 3 January 2019. Villa, who escaped relegation on the final day of last season, overtake them in the table with their best start since 1962.
Villa's first was the result of a huge error by Adrian. The Reds stand-in keeper passed the ball straight to Grealish, who cut it back for Watkins to side-foot in from eight yards.
Watkins' second was excellent as he cut in from the left and smashed into the top corner.
Mohamed Salah looked to have restored order when he scored for the Reds, but John McGinn's deflected volley two minutes later put Villa's lead back to two.
It got even better when Watkins headed in from Trezeguet's cross to become the first player to score a Premier League hat-trick against Liverpool since Dimitar Berbatov for Manchester United 10 years ago.
Villa debutant Ross Barkley, a boyhood Evertonian, was excellent and added a fifth after the break from just outside the box - from Grealish's third assist.
Salah made it 5-2 from Roberto Firmino's pass on the hour-mark but then Grealish smashed in Villa's sixth before latching onto McGinn's raking pass to add another.
This is the first time in 18 attempts that Villa have beaten the reigning champions at home - the last was a 3-2 win over Arsenal in December 1998.
There have already been many surprising results this season - including Tottenham's 6-1 win at Manchester United earlier on Sunday - but none can beat this for sheer shock value.
"We never dreamed of getting a result like this," Villa boss Dean Smith told BBC Sport.
"The performance was outstanding from start to finish. We created an awful lot of chances against an exceptional defence and team. We had to work very hard."
The game that defies all logic
This is a result which makes no sense - apart from the fact Aston Villa were remarkable and clinical and Liverpool were unbelievably bad.
A team who almost got relegated last season beat the defending champions - who barely ever lose - 7-2.
It is one thing to identify Liverpool's weaknesses but quite another to take advantage of them in such a sensational way.
Villa are now unbeaten in seven league games, including the run that saw them stay up at the end of last season, and have won all three league matches this season.
Dean Smith's side managed to get in behind Liverpool's high defensive line with ease in the first half and Watkins, who was the Championship's top scorer last season and cost Villa a club record £28m, was the chief beneficiary.
He took advantage of Adrian's error for the first with his left foot and chased onto Grealish's pass before cutting inside Joe Gomez and firing home with his right.
Watkins got his perfect hat-trick - in more ways than one - before the break, nodding into an empty net after Barkley's deep free-kick was collected by Trezeguet who clipped the ball into the six-yard box. He also crashed an effort onto the crossbar as Villa chased an eighth goal late on.
"We have carried on the momentum from the end of last season but we have added quality to that," Villa boss Smith said. "People have questioned Ollie Watkins' price. That has probably trebled now."
Three more goals followed in an equally frenetic second half. Grealish picked out Barkley, whose 20-yard strike was helped into the top right-hand corner by a flick off the leg of Trent Alexander-Arnold. Grealish then scored via a Fabinho deflection before running onto a McGinn pass to add a famous seventh.
What now for Villa? With a performance like this and three wins from three their thoughts will be a lot, lot higher than a relegation battle.
What on earth was that from Liverpool?
Liverpool were missing first-choice goalkeeper Alisson through injury and Sadio Mane and Thiago, who have both tested positive for coronavirus. But nothing could excuse this performance, surely the worst of manager Jurgen Klopp's illustrious era.
Even last year when they put out their under-23 team to face Villa in the Carabao Cup, as the first team contested the Club World Cup, that only ended in a 5-0 defeat.
Liverpool were completed wretched. The tone was set from the moment Adrian overhit a simple pass to Joe Gomez, which went straight to Grealish to set up the opener.
Adrian has made five errors directly leading to goals in his 21 appearances for Liverpool - as many as first-choice Alisson has in 92 games. Klopp revealed after the game that Alisson is likely to miss several games with a shoulder injury.
Several of Villa's goals took advantage of Liverpool's high defensive line. They just could not deal with the guile of Grealish and Barkley and the finishing of Watkins.
Salah's double will count for nothing.
Will Klopp treat this game as a one-off anomaly, or will the the manner of the defeat be more of a concern for the German?
"You have to say that Villa did very well," Klopp told BBC Sport. "They were very physical, very smart and very direct, we were not.
"We had big chances which we did not use, but when you concede seven I'm not sure you can say it would have been 7-7. We made too many mistakes and massive ones obviously. It started with the first goal and around the goals we made massive mistakes."
Liverpool's leakiest start since 1937 - match stats
- Aston Villa have won their opening three league games to a season for the first time since the 1962-63 campaign.
- This was the first time Liverpool have conceded seven goals in a match in all competitions since April 1963 in a 7-2 league defeat at Tottenham, while it was the second time Aston Villa have netted seven times in a single Premier League game, after a 7-1 win over Wimbledon in February 1995.
- Liverpool are the first reigning English top-flight champions to ship seven goals in a league match since Arsenal against Sunderland in September 1953.
- Aston Villa have won four consecutive home Premier League matches for the first time since October 2007.
- Liverpool's 11 goals conceded is their most after four games of a league season since 1937-38 (also 11).
- Since the start of last season, Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins has scored more league goals than any other player in England's top four tiers (29, including play-offs).
- Watkins was the 10th player to score a Premier League hat-trick against Liverpool, and the first since Dimitar Berbatov in September 2010.
- Jack Grealish is only the second Aston Villa player to assist three goals in a single Premier League game, after James Milner v Burnley in February 2010.
- Mohamed Salah has now scored against 25 of the 26 sides he has appeared against in the Premier League for Liverpool (96%) - the best ratio of any player in the competition for the club.
What's next?
Following the international break, Liverpool visit Everton in the Merseyside derby on Saturday, 17 October, with Villa at Leicester the same day.
Player of the match
WatkinsOllie Watkins
with an average of 9.30
Aston Villa
Avg
- Squad number11Player nameWatkinsAverage rating
9.30
- Squad number10Player nameGrealishAverage rating
9.01
- Squad number20Player nameBarkleyAverage rating
8.58
- Squad number7Player nameMcGinnAverage rating
8.50
- Squad number5Player nameMingsAverage rating
8.19
- Squad number17Player nameTrézéguetAverage rating
8.17
- Squad number4Player nameKonsaAverage rating
7.98
- Squad number2Player nameCashAverage rating
7.97
- Squad number26Player nameE MartínezAverage rating
7.95
- Squad number18Player nameTargettAverage rating
7.94
- Squad number6Player nameDouglas LuizAverage rating
7.93
- Squad number15Player nameTraoréAverage rating
7.63
- Squad number19Player nameNakambaAverage rating
7.55
- Squad number27Player nameAhmed El MohamadyAverage rating
7.47
Liverpool
Avg
Squad number11Player nameMohamed SalahAverage rating5.04
Squad number7Player nameMilnerAverage rating3.39
Squad number20Player nameDiogo JotaAverage rating3.25
Squad number26Player nameRobertsonAverage rating3.13
- Squad number17Player nameJonesAverage rating
2.98
- Squad number18Player nameMinaminoAverage rating
2.96
Squad number9Player nameRoberto FirminoAverage rating2.87
- Squad number3Player nameFabinhoAverage rating
2.58
Squad number5Player nameWijnaldumAverage rating2.53
Squad number4Player namevan DijkAverage rating2.39
- Squad number8Player nameKeitaAverage rating
2.38
Squad number66Player nameAlexander-ArnoldAverage rating2.33
- Squad number13Player nameAdriánAverage rating
2.08
Squad number12Player nameGomezAverage rating1.87
Line-ups
Aston Villa
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 26E Martínez
- 2CashSubstituted forEl Mohamadyat 80'minutes
- 4Konsa
- 5Mings
- 18Targett
- 6Douglas LuizBooked at 46minsSubstituted forNakambaat 80'minutesBooked at 90mins
- 7McGinn
- 17TrézéguetSubstituted forTraoréat 87'minutes
- 20Barkley
- 10Grealish
- 11Watkins
Substitutes
- 12Steer
- 14Hourihane
- 15Traoré
- 19Nakamba
- 21El Ghazi
- 27El Mohamady
- 39Davis
Liverpool
Formation 4-3-3
- 13Adrián
- 66Alexander-Arnold
- 12GomezSubstituted forJonesat 61'minutes
- 4van DijkBooked at 38mins
- 26Robertson
- 8KeitaSubstituted forMinaminoat 45'minutes
- 3Fabinho
- 5Wijnaldum
- 11Salah
- 9FirminoSubstituted forMilnerat 68'minutes
- 20Jota
Substitutes
- 7Milner
- 14Henderson
- 17Jones
- 18Minamino
- 27Origi
- 62Kelleher
- 76N Williams
- Referee:
- Martin Atkinson
Match Stats
Home TeamAston VillaAway TeamLiverpool
- Possession
- Home30%
- Away70%
- Shots
- Home18
- Away14
- Shots on Target
- Home11
- Away8
- Corners
- Home2
- Away7
- Fouls
- Home7
- Away10
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Aston Villa 7, Liverpool 2.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Bertrand Traoré (Aston Villa) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Ahmed El Mohamady.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Booking
Marvelous Nakamba (Aston Villa) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Post update
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Post update
Foul by Marvelous Nakamba (Aston Villa).
Post update
Corner, Aston Villa. Conceded by James Milner.
Post update
Foul by James Milner (Liverpool).
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Ross Barkley (Aston Villa) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution
Substitution, Aston Villa. Bertrand Traoré replaces Trézéguet.
Post update
Corner, Liverpool. Conceded by Ahmed El Mohamady.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Jack Grealish (Aston Villa) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Ross Barkley (Aston Villa) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Post update
Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) hits the bar with a right footed shot from the centre of the box. Assisted by Trézéguet with a cross.
Post update
Offside, Liverpool. Virgil van Dijk tries a through ball, but Takumi Minamino is caught offside.
Post update
Attempt saved. Diogo Jota (Liverpool) header from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by James Milner.
Post update
Attempt saved. Marvelous Nakamba (Aston Villa) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Post update
Foul by James Milner (Liverpool).
Post update
Ross Barkley (Aston Villa) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Comments
Join the conversation
Graeme, I think it’s more likely the grass Liverpool’s defence had been smoking.
Liverpool were just embarrassed, Watkins schooled Virgin Van Dijk at the the back.
Maybe next weekend dont jump on another fixtures HYS before your own team plays.
Congrats Aston Villa very entertaining watch a good shout for Europa this season.
COYS
What United can do:
Liverpool certainly can better that.
Hahaha hahahaaahaaaaaa
You're only allowed six in
Today is no different. Liverpool are the first defending champions to concede 7 goals in a Premier League game.
Bravo!
Then Liverpool lose 7-2!
Let's hope for more Premiership games like these.
Well done Villa!