Paul Gorst delivers his verdict after Liverpool drew 2-2 at Aston Villa to move eight points clear at the top of the Premier League
After a brief chat with Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez, Darwin Nunez made his exit, head bowed and brow furrowed. The Liverpool striker pulled his shirt over his head and was given a handful of consolatory pats on the head as he disappeared down the tunnel.
On another night, the No.9 might have been the hero; the one who hogged the headlines after rising from the bench to help Arne Slot’s side go 10 points clear of Arsenal in the Premier League title race.
Instead, the Uruguay international only added to the uncertainty around what happens next with his future. His glaring miss – one that forced Slot to recoil away from the pitch, head in his hands – could yet be decisive this season.
The Liverpool squad who now hold an eight-point advantage over Arsenal will try and ensure it’s nothing but a mere footnote but when the margins are so slender in tough assignments as this at Aston Villa, such gilt-edged misses become unacceptable.
Nunez had only been on the pitch a couple of minutes when he raced onto Dominik Szoboszlai’s pass across the face of goal and perhaps that is the wafer thin mitigation for the substitute to cling to. Maybe, for the uber generous, the figure of Axel Disasi was also an additional distraction from six yards out.
But the Reds have never agreed to lay out more money on any one player than they did with Nunez, when he signed from Benfica in 2022 for a fee that could reach £85m, and it was the sort of bread-and-butter finish that should have been dispatched without fuss. Instead, the close-range shot sailed over the bar and for the second Wednesday running,Liverpool were forced to deal on a 2-2 draw away from home
There’s one player in the dressing room who feels quite down and I think you know who that is,” Slot admitted after the game. It did not take a Uefa coaching license to discover the identity of who the Reds boss was referring to.
It’s impossible not to feel for Nunez. His die-for-the-shirt, heart-on-sleeve style has earned him many admirers during his time on Merseyside, but Liverpool are unable to carry passengers for this run-in and as he nears the home stretch of his third season at Anfield, the same flaws remain as blinding as they did on day one.
The fact Nunez has been unable to become the first-choice No.9 during a period that saw Diogo Jota go four months between Premier League starts until last week at Wolves says it all.
The Reds rebuffed tentative advances from Saudi Pro League clubs in January with the belief that it was all hands on deck for the rest of the campaign. Slot will be forgiven for hoping the big-hitters of Saudi Arabia call back in the summer. A new centre-forward is simply a must for next season
For Slot, however, this becomes a difficult game to assess. Was a battling point at a venue Villa haven’t lost at since August a positive one? Or is a second draw in three games an indication his charges are tiring as the finish line emerges on the horizon? One more composed touch from the thousands made on the night itself totally transforms the tone of the analysis for the Liverpool boss. That’s those fine margins, alright
A lively first half saw Mohamed Salah score once more when Jota passed across the face of goal after Andres Garcia had gifted the No.20 the ball shortly before the half-hour mark. It was the Egyptian’s 29th of the campaign and there can’t have been many that were as straightforward.
Villa responded on 38 minutes when Youri Tielemans volleyed home after the visitors had failed to deal with a ball into the box. Jota had a chance immediately from the restart to restore the advantage but the Portugal international uncharacteristically slammed over after going clean through. It was a sign that Jota, usually ice cold in those positions, is still some way short of 100% after missing so much football since October.
Lucas Digne’s cross in stoppage time was met by Ollie Watkins’s head to give the hosts the lead heading into the break and Slot will have been furious not to have seen out the half having initially led after 30 minutes, particularly given Villa scored from two of their three shots on target.
Slot started with only two recognised frontmen in Jota and Salah in favour of four midfielders as Curtis Jones was brought back for Luis Diaz but the tweak struggled to work at times as the Tielemans and John McGinn in particular stamped their mark over proceedings in the first 45
But Liverpool remain title favourites for a reason and it was a powerful surge of their own that led to the leveller as Trent Alexander-Arnold burst forward, exchanged a pass with Salah and beat Martinez via a deflection for 2-2.
It was supposed to be the catalyst for the statement victory; the win that turned the screw and opened up the points gap to double digits. But after Nunez fluffed his lines, it never looked like it was coming.
Strap yourselves in then, there are plenty of twists and turns left in this one. To the Etihad.
