Aston Villa 4-2 Liverpool

Aston Villa qualified for the Champions League at Liverpool’s expense – Arne Slott’s side were forced to wait for a top-five finish after being “taken to the cleaners” in a 4-2 defeat.

Ollie Watkins’ second-half double capped off a superb performance for Unai Emery’s side – who can go into Wednesday’s Europa League final having already secured a seat at Europe’s top table.

Liverpool surrendered in the second leg, and they now face the prospect of beating Brentford on the final day to secure themselves Champions League football.

“Liverpool aren’t good at anything,” Jamie Carragher said after a lackluster display. “They look like a really average team.

“Only Liverpool looked a threat from set pieces.”

Villa showed they were better than Liverpool, when Morgan Rodgers curled them in front from a slick short-corner routine just before half-time. It came at a time when Slott’s team was on top but failed to take their chances.

Liverpool found an equalizer after the break when Virgil van Dijk headed home Dominik Szoboszlai’s free-kick survived a VAR check, after van Dijk and Matty Cash combined in the build-up.

But Liverpool lost all composure when Rio Ngumoha hit the post with a superb strike soon after to equalise. Szoboszlai slipped deep into Liverpool territory, allowing Rodgers to set up Watkins for his first.

Then Villa hit top gear. Emiliano Buendia hit a curling effort inside the post, but Watkins got his second after Pau Torres’ shot was saved.

The best was saved for last, with John McGinn scoring a superb fourth goal from the edge of the box.

Van Dijk pulled one back for Liverpool, but it was a disappointing night to end a poor campaign for Liverpool this season.

Although Liverpool may be assured of Champions League qualification ahead of their final game, there is still a lot of work to be done.

WATCH: Four stunning goals for Aston Villa

Horrible Liverpool defensive stats

• Liverpool conceded four goals in a Premier League game for the first time since a 4-4 draw with Southampton in their final match of the 2022/23 season.
• For the first time (52) the Reds have conceded more than 50 goals in a 38-game Premier League campaign.
• Liverpool lost their 19th game of the season in all competitions. Since they were last promoted to the top flight in 1962, only the Reds have suffered more defeats in a campaign in 1992/93 (20) (19 in 2004/05 and 2009/10).
• Excluding penalties, Liverpool have conceded the most goals from set pieces in the Premier League this season (20). The Reds conceded 11 goals from corners for the first time in the Premier League campaign.
• Liverpool have conceded 77 goals in all competitions this season. It is the second highest Liverpool have managed since the start of the Premier League.

Carragher: Liverpool have too many weak players

Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher at Villa Park:

“It’s been happening since the first day of the season against Bournemouth on Friday night.

“Liverpool have a lot of weak players – physically and mentally – and that needs to be fixed. It looks like Arne Slott is going to be the man who has to fix that next season. But this result does nothing for the fans’ feeling around his position now.

“When you see these results away from home, I always think it tells you about your personality and character.

“I actually can’t believe Liverpool are fifth in the league. You think the number of goals they score, they never look like a threat going forward, and that away record – and Liverpool are fifth in the Premier League? Wow.

“It’s the first season where I’ve seen Virgil van Dijk look human – and it’s had an impact on others.

“When you look at his partners, people tell me how good they are. But when Van Dijk isn’t at his best, sometimes you need them to step up and help him out a little bit. That doesn’t happen.”

Slott asked if the problem was due to mentality

Liverpool head coach Arne Slott to Sky Sports:

“Now you’re referring to the times where we struggled after 2-1, but overall I don’t think the players deserve what you’re saying.

“They dealt with this difficult away game, and were fully in the game and probably managed to get a result. But I agree with you: after 2-1 we collapsed and we fought.

“At the end we got back to 4-2 so they didn’t give up, but we struggled to control their pace, intensity and quality.

“We certainly conceded too many goals. We didn’t score enough either, although two at Villa Park isn’t bad. If you told me we did that before the game, I’d think we’re not far from a good result.

“When we’re a good team, we struggle to find that goal, mainly because we don’t create enough big chances when we’re a good team.

“When we have a period when we struggle or the other team is better than us, we admit it very easily.

“Before this game Bournemouth were the only ones who had conceded more set-piece goals than us. I wouldn’t be surprised if we were number one after this. That’s never a good thing.”

Emery ‘proud’ Villa seal qualification

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery from Sky Sports:

“Fantastic. The match was very important for us because the priority was the Premier League and achieving our first goal: to be in the Champions League and now fourth.

“It was a tough match in the first half but we did a great job in the second half. Very grateful to the fans for their support and the atmosphere they created.

“We’re in the Champions League and that’s amazing. Four years here and four years in Europe. One in the conference, two in the Champions League and one in the Europa League. And we’re in a final.

“It’s not easy to compete in two competitions, to be consistent and we’ve struggled with that, but we’ve done a great job in the Premier League all year. I’m very proud.”

The story of the match in statistics

What is coming to the Premier League?