Liverpool held by Villa but go eight points clear

Premier League leaders Liverpool needed Trent Alexander-Arnold's second-half equaliser to secure a 2-2 draw at Aston Villa on Wednesday that lifted them eight points clear at the top.

Liverpool had the incentive of opening up a 10-point lead with a victory and led through Mohamed Salah's 28th-minute opener before Villa turned the game on its head before halftime with goals by Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins.

Diogo Jota struck the crossbar for Liverpool after the break before Alexander-Arnold's deflected shot levelled it up.

Substitute Darwin Nunez missed a glorious chance to restore Liverpool's lead and Villa almost nicked it in stoppage time with Donyell Malen's shot shaving the post.

Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk expressed his frustration at missing out on the win but it was hardly a damaging result for Arne Slot's side who remain in control of the title race.

Second-placed Arsenal will take some heart though as they now have a game in hand and can shave the gap to five points with a victory at home to West Ham United on Saturday before Liverpool go to Manchester City on Sunday.

"We are a bit disappointed, we had the chances to win the game and took a bit of a risk at the end," Van Dijk said. "We take a point and move on. We have a big one on Sunday."

Liverpool had lost only one of their previous 14 Premier League clashes with Villa and looked in the mood to continue that domination in the early stages at Villa Park.

Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez was forced into an early save, Tyrone Mings made a crucial block and Liverpool forward Jota miscued a header wide.

Liverpool did have a scare when Marcus Rashford, making his first start for Villa since joining on loan from Manchester United, saw his cross deflected into the net but he had strayed marginally offside in the build-up.

Villa's sloppiness proved costly as Andres Garcia panicked under pressure and passed straight to Jota who unselfishly squared for Salah to clip a shot into the roof of the net.

Liverpool's lead was short-lived though.

In the 37th minute Rashford curled a free kick into a crowded penalty area and the ball eventually dropped for Tielemans who struck a volley past Alisson.

Jota wasted a glorious chance to restore Liverpool's lead almost immediately, getting his angles all wrong when through on goal. Liverpool's early energy levelled off though and Villa grabbed the lead in first-half stoppage time.

As Liverpool backed off, Villa worked the ball to Lucas Digne who had time to pick out Watkins with a cross that the England striker headed past Alisson.

Liverpool were rocked but rediscovered their tempo after the break and shortly after Jota struck the crossbar with a long-range shot they were level. This time Salah turned creator as he played inside to Alexander-Arnold whose shot took a sizeable deflection off Mings to leave Martinez wrong-footed

Nunez came off the bench to replace Jota and should have made an instant impact but lifted a shot high over the crossbar when he looked poised to score.

Had Malen's effort crept in at the death, the door may have creaked open a little for chasing Arsenal but Liverpool emerged relatively unscathed from a dangerous fixture.