Aston Villa 4 – 2 Liverpool

Aston Villa secured Champions League qualification at Liverpool’s expense – with Arne Slot’s side forced to wait a top-five finish after being “taken to the cleaners” with a 4-2 loss.

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

Liverpool capitulated in the second period, with Slot’s side now facing the prospect of potentially needing to beat Brentford on the final day to secure Champions League football themselves.

“Liverpool don’t excel at anything,” said Jamie Carragher after a limp display. “They look like a really, really average team.

“The only time Liverpool have looked a threat is through set pieces.”

Villa showed they were better than Liverpool at that as well, when Morgan Rogers curled Villa in front from a slick short corner routine just before half-time. It came in a period when Slot’s side were on top but failed to take their chances.

Liverpool did find a leveller after the break when Virgil van Dijk headed home Dominik Szoboszlai’s free-kick that survived a VAR check, after Van Dijk and Matty Cash came together in the build-up.

But Liverpool lost all composure, despite the excellent Rio Ngumoha hitting the post just after the equaliser. Szoboszlai slipped over deep in Liverpool territory, allowing Rogers to set up Watkins for his first.

Then Villa hit top gear. Emiliano Buendia struck the inside of the post with a curling effort, but then Watkins got his second after bundling home from close range after Pau Torres’ shot was saved.

The best was saved until last, with John McGinn curling home a brilliant fourth from the edge of the box.

Van Dijk pulled one back for Liverpool, but it was a disappointing night to cap off a poor campaign on the road for Liverpool this season.

While Champions League qualification could be secured before Liverpool play their final game, there is still a lot of work to be done.

WATCH: Four stunning goals for Aston Villa

The damning Liverpool defensive stats

• Liverpool have 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.
• The Reds have also leaked more than 50 goals in a 38-game Premier League campaign for the first time (52).
• Liverpool lost their 19th game of the season across all competitions. Since they were last promoted to the top-flight in 1962 only in 1992-93 (20) have the Reds suffered more defeats in a campaign (also 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 have conceded 11 goals via corners for the first time in a Premier League campaign.
• Liverpool have conceded 77 goals this season in all competitions. It’s the second-most Liverpool have managed since the start of the Premier League.

Carragher: Liverpool have too many weak players

Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher at Villa Park:

“This has been happening for the first day of the season on a Friday night against Bournemouth.

“Liverpool have far too many weak – physically and mentally – and it has to be fixed. It looks like Arne Slot is going to be the man who has to fix it next season. But this result does nothing in terms of the feelings of the supporters around his position right now.

“When you look at those results away from home, I always think it tells you about your personality and character.

“I can’t actually believe that Liverpool are fifth in the league. You think about the number of the goals they’ve conceded, they never look threatening 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 effect on others. When you look at his partners, people tell me how good they are. But when Van Dijk is not at his best, sometimes you need them to step up and help him a little bit. It doesn’t happen.”

Slot asked if woes are due to mentality

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot to Sky Sports:

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

“They did cope with this difficult away game and were fully in the game and able to maybe get a result. But I agree with you, after the 2-1 we crumbled, and we struggled.

“In the end we came back to 4-2, so they did not give up, but we struggled to control their pace, intensity and quality.

“We’ve definitely conceded far too many goals. We also haven’t scored enough goals, although two at Villa Park is not bad. If you told me we did that before the game, I would think we are not far from a good result.

“When we are the better team, we struggle to find that goal, mainly because we are not able to create big enough chances when we are the better team.

“When we have a period of time when we are struggling or the other team are better than us, we tend to concede too easy.

“Before this game there was only Bournemouth that has conceded more set-piece goals than us. After this I would not be surprised if we are number one. That is never a good thing.”

Emery ‘proud’ as Villa seal CL qualification

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery to Sky Sports:

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

“It was a tough match in the first half, but in the second half we did a fantastic job. Very grateful for the support and the atmosphere the fans are creating.

“We are in the Champions League and this is something amazing. Four years here and four years in Europe. One in Conference, two in the Champions League and one in Europa League. And we are in a final.

“To compete in both competitions, being consistent is not easy, and we struggled with this, but all year we did a fantastic job in the Premier League. I am so proud.”

Story of the match in stats

What’s coming up in the Premier League?