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LIVERPOOL v ASTON VILLA RECAP: Reds hit hapless Villa for six

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Liverpool returned to their very best with a 6-0 demolition of Aston Villa at Villa Park on Sunday.

Jurgen Klopp's Reds, who had six different goalscorers, dominated from go to woe to produce their most complete performance since the German took the reins at Anfield.

The opening goal came in the 16th minute when Daniel Sturridge, in his first league start since early October, nodded home Philippe Coutinho's cross from the left before James Milner quickly made it 2-0 when his free-kick from the flank evaded all in the box, including Villa keeper Mark Bunn.

Emre Can made it 3-0 early in the second half when he fired home from outside the area before Divock Origi, who had replaced Sturridge moments earlier, raced onto a Coutinho through ball and slotted home on 63 minutes.

Nathaniel Clyne drove into the area, saw his initial effort saved by Bunn, only to follow up to make it 5-0 before Kolo Toure scored his first Premier League goal since 2011 when reacted swiftly to put his head in the way of Jordan Henderson's corner to see the net billow.

The victory saw Liverpool moved to eighth on the table as Remi Garde's hapless Villa remained rooted to the bottom.


MATCH OVERVIEW

Aston Villa: 0
Liverpool: 6 (Daniel Sturridge 16', James Milner 25', Emre Can 58', Divock Origi 63', Nathaniel Clyne 65', Kolo Toure 71')
Villa Park, Birmingham - 35,798


TALKING POINTS

- A disaster for Villa. Does this all but confirm their relegation? Massive changes are required at Villa Park.

- Brilliant performance from Liverpool. If they can string a couple more confident displays together, then a top-five finish may not be out of the question.


WHAT'S NEXT?

Villa will have some time to get things right as they do not play again until February 27 when they head to Stoke.

Liverpool travel to Germany to take on Augsburg in the Europa League Round of 32 on Thursday prior to next week's return bout at Anfield. They will then meet Man City in the Capital One Cup final at Wembley on February 28 before hosting City at Anfield in the league on March 2.



TWITTER INSIGHT


QUOTES CORNER

Villa's Garde on his feelings towards the result:

"I feel humiliation when you concede six goals at home without scoring. It's very painful. We don't have time to moan too much, we have to concentrate on the next game.

"I have a lot of feelings but I will keep some for myself."


Liverpoolboss Klopp on the huge win:

"It's perfect for the boys, they really feel it makes sense to work in this way. It's not a day to sing songs or things like this for us. That's part of the respect for Aston Villa, a great club in a difficult situation. If one team wins 6-0 another loses 6-0 and that's not too nice for them.

"It's not too often in a manager's life, we keep it for bad times. It was a good game for us and a good result for the soul."




STATS SPECIALS
*Thanks to Opta




TEAM LEADERS


Aston Villa

Goals - Jordan Ayew 5
Assists - Jordan Veretout 5
Clean sheets - Mark Bunn 3
Yellow cards - Leandro Bacuna 6
Red cards - Jordan Ayew 1


Liverpool

Goals - Roberto Firmino, Christian Benteke 6
Assists - Roberto Firmino 7
Clean sheets - Simon Mignolet 8
Yellow cards - Lucas Leiva 8
Red cards - Philippe Coutinho 1

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Andrew Slevison
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