Liverpool boss Arne Slot warned his side they cannot afford to keep dropping points in games they deserve to win after a horror miss from Darwin Nunez in a 2-2 draw at Aston Villa.
Slot’s side missed the chance to move 10 points clear at the Premier League summit after being held in an entertaining encounter at Villa Park.
Mohamed Salah continued his impressive season with a goal and assist as he opened the scoring in the first half and then teed up Trent Alexander-Arnold’s second-half equaliser after Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins had turned the game around for Villa before the break.
The three points were there for the taking when Dominik Szoboszlai laid a golden chance on a plate for Nunez, who fired over an open goal at the far post, with Liverpool having to settle for their fourth draw in their last eight matches.
Slot said: “The only reason why we could be happy with a 2-2 was that they got the last chance of the game. OK, a point is good to take, but for the rest, I think all for everything else I’m not happy.
“So performance-wise, not a dip at all today, in my opinion. What we must not do, and we’ve done that a bit too often now, is that we don’t get what we deserve.
“And if you look at all the chances, you put them in a row from us and from them, I think it’s clear which team should have won this game, and we must not make a habit out of that.
“Because it happened a bit too much now, and still we are eight points clear with Arsenal, who have a game in hand.”
On Nunez’s miss, which had echoes of Ronny Rosenthal’s famous howler for Liverpool in the same fixture in 1992, Slot added: “Szoboszlai made it an open goal chance and then Darwin was, of course, it was not his best leg, he’s right footed, of course, but it was still a big chance.
“I was hoping that he could have got another one, because a player like him probably wouldn’t miss two chances in a row.
“I think we were all disappointed, but it’s normal that a player that missed a chance like this is always a bit more disappointed than the rest.”
An opportunity missed to go 10 points clear, but still a healthy lead at the top for Liverpool 🔝#AVLLIV pic.twitter.com/Lr8miAkVm5
— Premier League (@premierleague) February 19, 2025
Villa showed they can be a match for any of the top sides on their day, but their inconsistency means they look unlikely to qualify for the Champions League for a second season running.
“We competed very well, but we are in the process, we want to get stronger in the Premier League, even playing against some teams who are better than us,” boss Unai Emery said.
“Liverpool is the best team in the Premier League and Champions League but we competed. We were close to get the victory, but I think the result was fair for both teams because they had chances, and we had chances at the end of the match.
“I have to accept it, this draw is adding one point in the table, not being enough, but we have to keep going, positively as well, improving with the players that joined us.”
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