On Wednesday, Premier League leaders Liverpool found themselves in a tough battle against Aston Villa. They needed Trent Alexander - Arnold's equalizer in the second half to salvage a 2 - 2 draw at Villa Park. This result extended their lead at the top of the table to eight points.

Going into the game, Liverpool had the motivation to widen their lead to 10 points with a win. Mohamed Salah gave them an early advantage, scoring in the 28th minute. However, Aston Villa staged a remarkable comeback before half - time. Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins found the net, completely turning the game around.

After the break, Diogo Jota of Liverpool hit the crossbar. Soon after, Alexander - Arnold's shot took a deflection and leveled the score. Liverpool substitute Darwin Núñez had a golden opportunity to put his team back in the lead but missed. In stoppage time, Aston Villa nearly snatched all three points when Donyell Malen's shot narrowly missed the post.

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was clearly frustrated about not securing the victory. But overall, for Arne Slot's Liverpool side, this draw wasn't a major setback as they still firmly control the title race.

Arsenal, who are in second place, will take some encouragement from this result. They have a game in hand. If they win their home match against West Ham United on Saturday, they can reduce the gap to Liverpool to five points. Liverpool, on the other hand, will face a huge test when they travel to Manchester City on Sunday.

Van Dijk commented, "We're a bit disappointed. We had the opportunities to win the game and took a bit of a risk towards the end. But we take the point and focus on the next game. We have a really important one on Sunday."

Looking back at their past encounters, Liverpool had lost only one of their previous 14 Premier League matches against Aston Villa. In the early stages of this game at Villa Park, they seemed determined to continue their dominance. Villa's goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez had to make an early save. Tyrone Mings made a vital block, and Liverpool forward Jota headed the ball wide.

Liverpool did have a scare when Marcus Rashford, making his first start for Villa since joining on loan from Manchester United, saw his cross deflected into the net but he had strayed marginally offside in the build-up.

Villa's sloppiness proved costly as Andrés García panicked under pressure and passed straight to Jota, who unselfishly squared for Salah to clip a shot into the roof of the net.

Liverpool's lead was short-lived though.

In the 37th minute Rashford curled a free kick into a crowded penalty area and the ball eventually dropped for Tielemans, who struck a volley past Alisson.

Jota wasted a glorious chance to restore Liverpool's lead almost immediately, getting his angles all wrong when through on goal. Liverpool's early energy levelled off though and Villa grabbed the lead in first-half stoppage time.

As Liverpool backed off, Villa worked the ball to Lucas Digne who had time to pick out Watkins with a cross that the England striker headed past Alisson.

Liverpool were rocked but rediscovered their tempo after the break and shortly after Jota struck the crossbar with a long-range shot they were level. This time Salah turned creator as he played inside to Alexander-Arnold whose shot took a sizeable deflection off Mings to leave Martinez wrong-footed.

Núñez came off the bench to replace Jota but, rather than become the hero, he was guilty of a miss that left Slot shaking his head in disbelief on the touchline, launching a shot over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

"You can understand there's one person in the dressing room that feels quite, quite down. You know who that is I think," Slot said in reference to Núñez's shocker.

Had Malen's effort crept in at the death, the door may have creaked open a little for chasing Arsenal, but Liverpool emerged relatively unscathed from a dangerous fixture.