This article is part of our Match of the Week series.
Liverpool controlled the match against Aston Villa in Gameweek 37, but Jhon Duran's heroic brace off the bench earned a shock 3-3 draw. However, Liverpool still takes the cake in the season series, as they beat Villa 3-0 in September. Liverpool and Aston Villa are locked into a third and fourth-place finish, respectively, to end the campaign.
Starting XI
Neither team made any change in formation, as Liverpool stuck with the 4-3-3, while Villa deployed the 4-2-3-1 again.
Liverpool made one change with Andrew Robertson out due to a knock and replaced by Joe Gomez.
Villa made two changes, as Emiliano Martinez took back his spot in net after a spell on the sidelines due to injury. Youri Tielemans also returned from injury to the starting XI, replacing Morgan Rogers.
Match Facts
The match started with a bang, with Martinez committing an own-goal in the second minute to give Liverpool an early 1-0 lead after he fumbled the ball into his net.
Jurgen Klopp didn't stray away from his typical tactics in his penultimate match in charge of Liverpool. It was standard gegenpressing that the German has frustrated teams in the Premier League since his move over from the Bundesliga. The emphasis of the tactic is when the club is out of possession, making sure to press on every pass made, especially in the opposition's final third.
Defensively, it was nothing different from what the Reds have shown this season, with a robust style of pressing and closing down the most prominent point of the defense. Formation-wise, they regularly maintained the 4-3-3 they started in, usually dropping back in the formation but quickly losing shape due to their constant pressing and movement around the pitch to cut out passes. However, this still works for the team despite the loss in shape, as they expect to gain the ball back within four to five passes from the other team. However, with the ferocious movement forward of Villa, they did have to make a slight adjustment, leaving Wataru Endo between the two central defenders at times to prevent an Ollie Watkins run through the middle. Outside of that, the only adjustment they made to fit Villa's attacking personnel was keeping the back line relatively spread out, as most of Villa's runs start down the side of the pitch.
Liverpool started the match with a much faster style of play, playing long balls out wide and finding runners through the box to create chances, scoring their second goal of the match after a long ball was played to Mohamed Salah, who found Joe Gomez, who sent it back across to Cody Gakpo in the center of the box. This worked so well to begin the match due to Salah and Luis Diaz's explosiveness and pace outside, as they easily waltzed down the sidelines against the slimmer setup from Villa.
However, things were much different moving into the second half for the Reds, as they took a 3-1 lead off of a Jarell Quansah header, then moved to a slower approach to maintain their lead. This included a lot of play from their back four, as full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Gomez moved further up the pitch to support the wingers, leaving only Virgil van Dijk and Quansah back to defend. It appeared to be a risky move against the very lethal counter of Villa, especially with Ollie Watkins constantly pressing the back two. Liverpool tried to counter this by leaving Endo in front of the two center-backs to stop any stray balls near midfield while adding more presence for a pass if needed. This would leave their formation looking more like a 2-1-4-3. The tactic worked well until Endo's exit in the 76th minute. Liverpool achieved their goal of controlling possession with this tactic, as in the second half, they controlled 62% of the possession and even included more shots than in the first half. However, the more they sat back and didn't push forward, the more everything fell apart.
Aston Villa were also unchanged in their tactics, focusing more on winning the ball back in the defense before pursuing a kick-and-run tactic to move forward. The only change was their avoidance of build-up play, as Emery typically likes to add in some but strayed away from it due to Liverpool's heavy press.
Starting in the defense, Villa stuck to their typical 4-2-2-2 shape, keeping Moussa Diaby and Watkins forward as the front two. Their primary role is to keep pressure on any defender receiving a back pass, trying to make them as uncomfortable as possible. The defenders and midfield kept a significantly narrow shape, sacrificing room on the wing to ensure no ball made it directly into their box. The two central midfielders, Douglas Luiz and Tielemans, tucked in deeper near the defense to create a block near the edge of their box, with the outside midfielders and the two forwards creating pressure on the opposing midfield by trying to block any space for a pass. The leading strategy of Unai's defensive setup is not to press and force mistakes through passing but, instead, to block all passing lanes by almost man-marking everyone but the ball carrier. They occasionally step up to put pressure on the ball carrier but prefer to make the attacker go straight forward and try to beat the defenders with dribbling instead of passing the ball around.
Moving to the attack, it was one-dimensional, with Villa strictly eyeing the counter, including little build-up. This isn't typical of the Villan's standard tactics this season, as they usually include some build-up. However, they appeared to stay away after the Liverpool press smothered any build-up they attempted through the first stages of the match.
Their more successful attempt at an attack was through their kick-and-run style, sending long ball after long ball forward, attempting to find the breaking Watkins, Diaby, or Leon Bailey. This is usually their main threat of attack, so it's no surprise that all three of their goals came against the run of play on a counterattack. They seemed to favor the wings when looking for a movement forward, most likely trying to stay away from the brick wall van Dijk. However, they would still try for Watkins in the middle, with that working out a couple of times. However, the real breakthrough happened after Endo exited the field, with Liverpool no longer having a defensive-minded midfielder in front of the defenders, leaving more space for a breakthrough pass, leading to Jhon Duran's late goals.
The few times they did have a proper build-up play, the formation became a 3-5-2, with Lucas Digne moving up to the midfield, as he was one of the team's better playmakers when in possession. From here, the build-up mainly focused on switching the ball and creating space wide for a run into the box and a pass across the goal face or a looping cross in search of a header. The left side was favored more when in a possession-based move forward, with Digne and John McGinn usually supplying the pass forward when breaking out of the 4-4-2. This is evident when looking at their stats, as they combined for three chances created and 17 passes into the final third, with those two being fruitful when attacking in a more controlled manner.
Both teams found success with their tactics while also falling victim to the few changes the managers made in preparation for the match. Aston Villa controlled 41% of the possession but still registered three big chances, 19 shots and 3.20 xG, compared to Liverpool's 59%, three, 14 and 1.74, respectively.
Man of the Match
Despite only playing 11 minutes, Jhon Duran is easily the Man of the Match following his two late goals to earn Villa a point. His clinical nature in front of goal was the bright spot of his performance, with his only two shots and touches in the box leading to the two goals. The forward also helped to secure the draw with a decent effort in the defense to stop Liverpool from getting a fourth goal, registering one tackle won, a recovery and two clearances. Ultimately, it was by far his best game of the season, with this being his first brace and only his fourth and fifth goals.
Upcoming Fixtures
Both teams have one match remaining as the Premier League season concludes.
Aston Villa will face Crystal Palace on the final matchday of the campaign. The match only has minor implications, as the Villains are locked in for a fourth-place finish, while Crystal Palace could move up marginally.
Liverpool will face Wolves in their season finale. Liverpool has no implications, as they are locked in at third place.
Looking Ahead
Aston Villa already accomplished their season goal, as Tottenham's loss Tuesday secured VIlla's spot in the UCL, so looking ahead, they won't have many implications other than finishing on a win.
Liverpool hope to give Jurgen Klopp a decent send-off, as he will leave at the end of the season, with the club looking for a win against Wolves to give the German the best exit possible after his excellent tenure with the Reds.
Gameweek 38
Despite being the season's last matchday, it's slightly underwhelming slate of matchups Sunday settled on a clash between Manchester United and Brighton to close out the season. Neither team has much to play for other than positioning in the table. United has been eliminated from European play unless there is a massive shift in goal differential and Chelsea or Newcastle lose. Brighton will just be looking to stay in the top half of the table to finish the season.
