Aston Villa 7-2 Liverpool: Player Ratings as Villa Secure Historic Win
Aston Villa enjoyed one of the best nights in the club's recent history, defeating Premier League champions Liverpool 7-2 at Villa Park.
The hosts got off to a flying start inside five minutes with Ollie Watkins opening the scoring after some terrible distribution from Adrian. The former Brentford man then doubled his tally with a sensational finish.
Mo Salah pulled one back with a lethal strike from inside the box but it wasn't long before Villa restored their two goal advantage courtesy of a deflected volley from John McGinn. Incredibly, Watkins then completed his hat trick to make it 4-1.
The momentum stayed with Dean Smith's side after the break with new arrival Ross Barkley marking his debut with a goal. Minutes later, Salah grabbed his second to make it 5-2. Jack Grealish then added two more goals before full time to seal a truly bonkers victory for his side.
Here are 90min's player ratings on a momentous night of Premier League football...
Aston Villa
1. Goalkeeper & Defenders
Emiliano Martinez (GK) - 7/10 - Made a couple of impressive stops that prevented Liverpool getting back into the game.
Matty Cash (RB) - 7/10 - Dealt with everything that came his way fairly well but was beaten on several occasions early on.
Ezri Konsa (CB) - 8/10 - Dominant and composed. A really impressive display.
Tyrone Mings (CB) - 8/10 - Looks transformed from the shaky spell of form he endured last season.
Matt Targett (LB) - 7/10 - Faced a tough test against Salah and handled it well.
2. Midfielders
John McGinn (CM) - 9/10 - What a volley. A supreme technician, who would not look out of place in the Liverpool midfield...
Douglas Luiz (CM) - 8/10 - Occasionally a bit rash but pulled off some lovely combinations with his midfield partners.
Ross Barkley (CM) - 8/10 - Should have scored at least once in the first half. Luckily, he scored an (deflected) banger after the break to make up for it. Excellent debut.
3. Forwards
Trezeguet (RW) - 8/10 - Superb awareness to provide the assist that allowed Watkins to complete his hat trick.
Ollie Watkins (ST) - 10/10 - The perfect hat trick and the perfect performance. Perhaps we could have taken a mark off for his poor miss in the second half...
Jack Grealish (LW) - 10/10 - A constant menace. Continues to be Villa's creative spark this season. Let's hope Gareth Southgate was watching.
4. Substitutes
Marvelous Nakamba - N/A
Ahmed Elmohamady - N/A
Bertrand Traore - N/A
5. Goalkeeper & Defenders
Adrian (GK) - 3/10 - Woeful. Too many mistakes now. The guy simply is not good enough to be a backup goalkeeper at a club as big as Liverpool.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (RB) - 2/10 - Caught out defensively many times. Grealish had him on toast.
Virgil van Dijk (CB) - 3/10 - Very bad. Probably the one responsible for calling Liverpool's high line from free kicks. That went well.
Joe Gomez (CB) - 2/10 - Strangely terrible performance. Not sure why he kept holding the high line, but it 100% did not work.
Andrew Robertson (LB) - 4/10 - The Reds' best defender which is not saying much. Would have scored if not for some Martinez heroics.
6. Midfielders
Naby Keita (CM) - 4/10 - Largely ineffective and was correctly hooked at half time for Minamino.
Fabinho (CM) - 3/10 - Cut through like a hot knife through butter time and time again.
Georginio Wijnaldum (CM) - 4/10 - Another ineffective Liverpool midfielder display. Strange.
7. Forwards
Mo Salah (RW) - 7/10 - Scored a brace and by far his team's best performer.
Roberto Firmino (ST) - 3/10 - Awful. Literally did nothing.
Diogo Jota (LW) - 4/10 - Caused Cash some problems early on but faded dramatically after the break.
8. Substitutes
Takumi Minamino - 4/10
Curtis Jones - 5/10
James Milner - 5/10