„Good ebening“ – Graduation for Liverpool at Villa Park

Rescheduled match from matchday 29 of the Premier League – and league leader FC Liverpool had to pass a real master test at Aston Villa on Trinity Road: 2-2. But what does the rest of the top team's schedule look like?

Dimmed lighting at Villa Park before the match, waving flags of the Villa fans on the pitch, the setting for a real top match was perfect.

FC Liverpool traveled on February 19, 2025, with a 7-point lead over FC Arsenal and a 7-goal better goal difference compared to the Londoners to Aston Villa.

However, the league position of the "Villans", who were ranked ninth before the match, was to prove deceptive.

In the Champions League with a 1-0 victory against FC Bayern Munich, but also in the Premier League, as on December 21, 2024, with a 2-1 win over the reigning champion Manchester City, Unai Emery’s team ("Good evening!") delivered performances that suited Aston Villa like a charm. Memorable.

"Two teams with a lot of offensive quality"

"It’s an evening away match at Villa Park, a difficult match, but we’ve had many difficult games already, and the only thing we need to do is keep going and work hard," said LFC coach Arne Slot in advance on TNT Sports, "we need to bring our qualities. These are two teams with a lot of offensive quality, so I expect both will score goals."

Exactly. FC Liverpool made the better start and took the lead 1-0 through the outstanding player of the season, Mohamed Salah (29th minute).

Will Salah do it like Jamie Vardy once did?

This goal and the assist for the 2-2 draw by Trent Alexander-Arnold after 61 minutes gave "The Pharaoh" a Premier League tally like we haven’t seen since the 2015/2016 season and the legendary James Richard Gill, aka Jamie Vardy, of champion Leicester City: 31 goal contributions. Vardy scored 32 points that season and led "The Foxes" to the title.

20 assists in all competitions make Mo Salah the standout player in Europe's top-5 leagues, with no other player from the German Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A, Spain’s La Liga, or France's Ligue 1 having more assists than the Egyptian.

With the 2-2 draw at Villa, "The Reds" remain unbeaten since their 0-1 loss to Nottingham Forest on September 14, 2024. That’s 22 Premier League games.

"Liverpool needs a striker"

17 shots were taken by Salah and his teammates at Aston Villa on World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez’s goal, but Liverpool could only celebrate twice. Darwin Nunez missed the chance to score the third goal for the Merseysiders from five meters (69th minute), missing the opportunity to pull 10 points clear of Arsenal.

A shortcoming in the overall brilliant season performance of FC Liverpool, which was also noted by the website ThisisAnfield.com: "Liverpool needs a striker."
Diogo Jota and Nunez, as natural strikers, scored only nine of the "Reds'" 62 league goals.

The top scorers Salah (24 goals this season), Luis Diaz (9 goals), and Cody Gakpo (8) play as wingers.

Will the title race get tight for Liverpool again?

This could still have an impact on Liverpool. Nevertheless, there is optimism at Anfield. "Thanks to Liverpool's comfortable lead in the table, it never felt like the title was slipping away during five matches in the last 15 days," ThisisAnfield.com concluded on February 20, 2025, "unfortunately, a lost point at Goodison (2-2 / event-breaks.com reported) and at Aston Villa kept the Gunners in the game, and they will watch the upcoming games against Manchester City and Newcastle United with great interest."

We will also be watching them – especially the match against Newcastle United under the floodlights, which could be another match with a potential deciding moment for FC Liverpool. It will definitely be exciting.

What is the rest of FC Liverpool’s schedule?

FC Liverpool will face Manchester City away on February 23 (5:30 PM), another heavyweight of the Premier League. Then the ambitious Newcastle United will visit at home on February 26, 2025 (9:15 PM) for "The Slot Machine." Seven of their 12 remaining games will be played at home at Anfield Road, where they are expected to perform. In particular, against bottom club FC Southampton on March 8, 2025, in the Merseyside derby against FC Everton (April 2, 2025), and, of course, in the direct duel against FC Arsenal on matchday 36, May 10, 2025 (4:00 PM).

Two tough London derbies are still waiting for Liverpool away: at FC Fulham in Craven Cottage (April 5, 2025) and at FC Chelsea (May 3, 2025 / matchday 35).

What other opponents are playing at Aston Villa?

Aston Villa still has an FA Cup match at Trinity Road against Cardiff City on February 28, 2025. Among the top teams still traveling to Birmingham are FC Chelsea (February 22, 2025), Nottingham Forest on April 5, 2025, and Newcastle United (April 19, 2025) coming to Villa Park.