A key metric with Emery is “duels” and no Villa player came out on top of their match-up. Club B ruges made three times as many interceptions and twice the number of clearances. Villa made four tackles in the attacking half, none in the attacking third, and their hosts, typically direct in style, grew in confidence when playing from deep.

Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, speaking to TNT Sports: "Very big win against a very good team. The goals came in counter-attacks but overall the team played a very good game. We are happy with it. We know we're top of the league but there are a lot of teams so we take it step by step."

Liverpool’s Arne Slot has become just the fifth manager to win as many as eight of his first 10 Premier League games in charge, after John Gregory (1998), Guus Hiddink (2009), Carlo Ancelotti (2009) and Ange Postecoglou (2023). Of the previous four, only Postecoglou failed to win his 11th match in the competition.

Unai Emery spoke to BBC Match of the Day after Aston Villa's defeat against Liverpool ... "We were not clinical in the attacking third but we are building the team and performances. It was not enough to get points here but I am positive that we are ...

As Unai Emery saw his team slump to a fourth consecutive defeat at Anfield, lines from “Casablanca” were presumably not in the forefront of his thoughts, even if his season is rapidly in danger of being remembered by the slogan “We’ll always have Bayern.

The international break comes at a welcome time for Aston Villa as they look to regroup and put right their poor run of recent form. They are having to manage playing in Europe as well as sustaining a fight at the top end of the Premier League and this is proving a real test of Unai Emery's managerial credentials.