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Ollie Watkins scored a hat-trick in the first half as Aston Villa stopped champion Liverpool’s 100% start to the Premier League season with an impressive 7-2 victory at Villa Park.
Watkins opened the scoring in the fourth minute after a mistake by Reds goalkeeper Adrian and doubled the hosts’ lead with a good goal in the 22nd minute.
Mohamed Salah responded just after the half hour, only for John McGinn to quickly make it 3-1 and Villa never looked back when Watkins then headed in his third in the 39th minute.
Former Everton player Ross Barkley subsequently deepened Liverpool’s misery in the 10th minute of the second half when he scored his Villa debut with a goal and, after Salah threw another back, Jack Grealish added two more for the hosts. when Liverpool was condemned to a really embarrassing defeat.
With three wins from three games, Dean Smith’s Villa is up to second in the table, tied on points with Liverpool, who have played four games, plus Leicester and Arsenal.
The foursome are three points behind Liverpool rival Everton in Merseyside, which Jurgen Klopp’s men face at Goodison Park in their next match on 17 October.
Summary: how it happened
Goalkeeper Adrian was added to Liverpool’s starting lineup after Alisson Becker suffered a shoulder injury in training on Saturday.
And the Spaniard got off to a nightmare start when his poor passing attempt was attacked in Liverpool’s box by Grealish, who left the ball to Watkins for a simple shot.
Four minutes later, Barkley, bowing for Villa after his arrival on loan from Chelsea, was fed by Grealish but put the ball wide from a great position.
Liverpool began to exert some pressure, with Emiliano Martínez blocking Roberto Firmino’s efforts twice, but Villa soon returned to the lead and doubled his lead when Watkins, again groomed by Grealish, cut inside Joe Gómez and shot Adrián in the lane. Upper corner. .
Martinez saved a couple of efforts from Diogo Jota and Barkley came close to making it 3-0 before Liverpool cut the deficit in the 33rd minute when the ball reached Salah in the box and he opened it.
But within moments the visitors had given way again, McGinn’s volley passed over Adrian through a Virgil Van Dijk deflection.
And they were shocked again four minutes later when Watkins completed his hat trick by heading home with a cross from Trezeguet, the effort on his feet after a VAR check for offside.
Then Barkley scored his debut goal in the 55th minute, with a shot from outside the box that flew towards Trent Alexander-Arnold, with Grealish again serving as supplier.
Salah shot the other end five minutes later to make it 5-2, but Villa did not finish, and Grealish added a double.
The first came in the 66th minute, another goal that involved a deflection when Villa’s captain’s shot hit Fabinho on his way to the net.
Adrian then denied Watkins, before Grealish pulled away from Liverpool’s defense when he latched on to a McGinn pass and calmly shoved the ball past Adrian.
Things almost took a turn for the worse for Liverpool with five minutes of normal time left when Watkins sent a shot off the crossbar, but Villa had already sealed a resounding victory over the Premier League champions to cap off a day of shocks in the Premier League. .
Full match details
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