Some observers will have understandably have seen this as a transitional season for Liverpool from the Jurgen Klopp era to Arne Slot’s reign but the Reds are not just ahead of schedule, but looking like serious title contenders.
After Manchester City slipped up against Brighton earlier on Saturday, Liverpool knew they had to take advantage to lay down a real marker.
While it could have been easy to wilt under the pressure of expectation they kept their calm to produce a controlled display against Aston Villa and move five points clear at the top.
Under Klopp, Liverpool played exciting but risky football, largely aiming to out score their opponents to get wins.
But under Slot they are a far more pragmatic side and that was displayed in this cool and calm performance against an Aston Villa team desperate to end their own recent poor run of form.
Goals in each half by Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah got the job done but between them Slot produced good game management to know when to slow the game down.
They are right where they want to be heading into the international break and showing with every game they are very much a strong contender in this title race.
