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Don't let the 1-0 scoreline fool you. Steven Gerrard came back to Anfield with Aston Villa intending to defend and frustrate Liverpool. It worked for an hour, but the continued percussive game preached by Jurgen Klopp and executed by Liverpool eventually wore him down. The fact that it came from the penalty spot after Mohamed Salah befuddled Tyrone Mings matters little. Liverpool were rested and it showed. And when they're like this, they're very hard to stop.
With Diogo Jota not fully fit, Klopp turned to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the front three rather than Takumi Minamino. More aptly, it was almost as if he was at the tip of a diamond, with Sadio Mane and Salah running past him. It's not an experiment we necessarily need to see again, but it was the sort of curveball Klopp occasionally serves up and a reminder that he's by no means dogmatic. Of course, things are that much easier when you can call on your first-choice midfield trio of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara.
