Andy Hunter was at Anfield this evening. Here’s his verdict. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!

Unai Emery, in a calm and philosophical mood, speaks to TNT. “Good evening … I’m happy how we responded … Liverpool in transition are a very good team … they dominated but didn’t have a lot of clear chances to score … we had chances to score in the first half, and the second half … we played more or less the way I want … of course we can improve … the league is very tight … a lot of teams performing very well … we want to keep the level we had last year … we are under this level but I have confidence … the players are performing very well … we faced Tottenham and Liverpool away … all very difficult … we have to keep the same positive mentality … we keep going.”

A very relaxed and smiley Arne Slot talks to TNT. “Salah has the best numbers of all of our attackers … all have great numbers but he stands out … let’s not forget the defensive run Diaz made to ensure we kept a clean sheet … it wasn’t easy … like most of our games … they were not as aggressive as we thought … we were patient … still sometimes not patient enough … in general we had control … it is not the first time Liverpool have scored from breaks like that … we have to switch the play more often than we did … in pressing we were outplayed too easily … we have to do this better … we are really happy that after a difficult period most of our players stayed fit … we have had some tough tests … I look after the international breaks and again they are tough! … so it is going to be a tough season in general … margins are small … now we have a bit of a margin, but I think Mikel [Arteta] said they have had many difficult away games already and had to play with ten men … we had difficult games too, but we have many challenges to come.”

Under Arne Slot, Liverpool had previously developed a habit of stuttering their way through first halves, then pressing on the accelerator after the break. Tonight the pattern was reversed, with his team playing with Klopp-esque intensity in the first, then taking things slow during the second. Either way seems to work, and Liverpool are in extremely good nick as they head into the international break. Aston Villa by contrast have now lost their last four matches in all competitions, and have only taken six points from their last 18 in the league. However they looked dangerous all night against a team who aren’t giving up many goals this season, and will surely take succour from their performance. The international break may have come at the right time for a team beginning to find out how the addition of a Champions League workload can affect a Premier League campaign.

Alexis Mac Allister speaks to TNT. “A very big win against a very good team … we dominated … we played a very good game … the goals came in counters but overall the team played a very good game … we are happy with it … we know we are top but there are still a lot of games so we will take it step by step … we were watching the game … happy for Brighton … I have special feelings for them … very grateful … but we are not thinking about other teams, we are just focusing on ourselves … if you are five points ahead them it means something … but we have to go step by step … if you were to ask me before the season started, I wouldn’t say we were candidates but now it looks like that … we are going to keep working and keep getting better … [Mohamed Salah] is so good and so important … for the team and the club … he is a legend here … you know he’s going to deliver and get the numbers … we are happy he is playing for us.”

90 min +3: Liverpool are seeing this out easily now. The same couldn’t be said before Salah’s clincher. Villa have pushed them hard. Liverpool stood firm.

90 min +2: A free kick for Villa out on the right. McGinn swings it to the far stick, where Kelleher claims and launches a quick counter. But the pinball game on the halfway line doesn’t go in Salah’s favour this time.

90 min +1: On TNT, Lucy Ward names Mohamed Salah as her player of the match. “The match-winner,” she explains. “That’s all there is to say.”

90 min: There will be four additional minutes.

88 min: The Liverpool fans sing their new song about Arne Slot. All of them together are nearly as loud as Jurgen Klopp during his farewell do last season.

87 min: Maatsen dribbles hard down the left and reaches the byline, but his cutback isn’t all that, and Konate is able to clear. Villa reminding Liverpool quickly that this game still isn’t over quite yet.

86 min: Van Dijk helps Torres up. Endo comes on for Mac Allister.

85 min: There’s a VAR check on a potential penalty at the other end, before the goal, but Torres ran into Gravenberch rather than the other way round. The goal stands!

82 min: … then up the other end, Duran prepares to slam home a left-wing cross, forcing Van Dijk to hook behind for a corner. This one causes Liverpool trouble, Philogene nearly bundling home at the far stick, but the ball loops over the bar. Kelleher had it covered. Just. This game is really in the balance, with Villa giving Liverpool a serious workout.

81 min: … and Liverpool counter from a Villa corner again! The hosts flood upfield. Diaz shapes to shoot from the edge of the box only for Konsa to slide in and somehow hold off both Diaz and Szoboszlai! What a block!

80 min: Tielemans swings the corner into a crowded six-yard box. Kelleher comes to collect, but Konate eyebrows it away for another corner instead. Maatsen and McGinn play this one short, and earn another off Robertson. Maatsen to swing this one in long from the right.

79 min: Rogers works his way down the left to earn another Villa corner. Tielemans trots across to take.

78 min: From the resulting free kick, Villa nearly beat Liverpool at their own game, countering at speed, Philogene considering a shot from the edge of the box. Diaz nips back from a long way out to nick the ball away, just in time. The home fans applaud his efforts warmly.

77 min: Kamara is booked for grabbing a handful of Gravenberch’s shirt.

75 min: Szoboszlai barrels down the right and looks for Gakpo at the far stick with a low cross. Konsa fresh-airs a clearance – or does he deliberately dummy? Either way, it flummoxes Gakpo, who is surprised into missing the ball himself. All very odd. A big chance, though.

74 min: … and here they come. Digne and Onana off, Maatsen and Kamara on.

73 min: It’s all a bit scrappy. Villa prepare some more changes.

71 min: The free kick’s hit long. Gakpo wafts the ball back into the mixer from the left, but that’s easy pickings for Martinez. Liverpool soon come again at Villa, though, Gakpo this time looking far more threatening as he advances down the left wing. He cuts infield only to get his shot all wrong. Into the stand it disappears.

70 min: Another long Van Dijk pass, this time down the right, is brought down by Salah, who is then slammed to the ground by McGinn. A free kick that Szoboszlai will take, with pretty much everyone else in the Villa box.

68 min: Van Dijk rakes a long pass down the left flank for Diaz, who should break free into the box but takes a heavy touch and can only hook harmlessly into the centre from the byline. Easy for Villa to mop up.

66 min: Both teams make a double change. Liverpool replace Jones and Ayler Nunez with Gakpo and Szoboszlai, while Villa swap out Watkins and Bailey for Duran and Philogene.

64 min: Mac Allister swings the free kick long towards Diaz on the left-hand edge of the six-yard box. Diaz wins a header, though not in any meaningful way. Goal kick.

63 min: Liverpool pass and probe, hither and yon. Eventually Watkins clips Bradley out on the right. Free kick.

61 min: Liverpool launch a rare second-half attack. Salah and Diaz take turns to fail to get shots away. Nunez eventually has a dig, but his low swerving drive eventually goes straight into Martinez’s arms.

60 min: Emery continues to go at the fourth official. He’s not happy at all. You’ve certainly seen penalties given for less. But nobody knows anything these days.

58 min: Digne delivers, Bradley clears. Tielemans complains about a Bradley tug on the shirt of Torres. VAR checks, but with the referee having previously waved play on, there’s not enough in it to change the decision. Unai Emery certainly does not agree. He rants away on the touchline.

57 min: Anfield is significantly quieter as a result, and the anxiety is palpable when Bradley upends Watkins out on the Villa left. Free kick. Villa load the Liverpool box.

56 min: Some more slower Slot-style control. Liverpool have enjoyed 75 percent possession since the restart, though it’s Villa who have looked more threatening on the whole. A work in progress, albeit one that could go five points clear this evening.

54 min: Salah’s loose backpass nearly sets up Rogers and Watkins on the edge of the Liverpool box. Bradley comes across to snuff out the danger and hammer clear. This match is properly in the balance at the moment.

52 min: Liverpool have launched a couple of Kloppesque counters this evening. Now they revert to Slotball, patiently passing it around the middle to establish some control

50 min: So yeah, Darwin Nunez as free-jazz phenomenon, then. If anything’s the soundtrack to his style of play, it’s surely this from the Albert Ayler Trio’s 1965 classic Spiritual Unity. Ayler “barges ferociously” through the track, according to our man John Fordham, which sounds about right.

48 min: Diaz and Robertson combine down the left. Robertson whips in a cross. Nunez meets it, six yards out, and has to score, but blasts his header wide left. Big miss.

47 min: Konate stays down, holding his knee, but soon afterwards gets back to his feet, albeit gingerly. He and Liverpool, their lead somehow still intact for now, play on.

45 min 24 sec: Villa should be level. Digne pumps long down the left. Konate’s header back out is weak, dropping to Rogers, who powers into the box, opens his body, and, like Nunez before him, slaps a shot wide right.

Villa get the second half underway. They’re kicking towards the Kop now. No changes, even though Digne had limped his way off the pitch at the end of the first half.

Half-time reading. Ed Aarons gives his verdict on the latest shock to the champions’ system.

45 min +4: Liverpool stroke it around patiently at the back, before eventually breaking clear of the press and tearing off upfield. Salah slips Diaz into acres down the left. Diaz feeds Robertson on the overlap. Robertson crosses low, where Nunez and Jones wait to tap home … but Torres arrives just in time to hook away from danger. So close to a second!

45 min +3: Tielemans is booked for a cynical tug on an in-flight Jones.

45 min +2: … to be replaced by Villa’s captain McGinn.

45 min +1: The board says three additional minutes; there will surely be more now, as Ramsey slowly limps off …

45 min: Salah dribbles gracefully down the right and has a couple of chances to deliver a cross, but overthinks it, and eventually runs the ball out of play for a goal kick. Before the game can restart, Ramsey goes down holding his hamstring.

43 min: Nope. It’s cut back to Gravenberch, who flays a shot into the Kop. Villa’s corners delivering much more bang for your buck.

42 min: Salah takes a heavy touch in the Villa box, but Ramsey, attempting to snaffle the loose ball, has a clank of his own to concede a cheap corner. All the action has come, one way or another, from Villa corners so far. How about a Liverpool one?

41 min: Nunez cuts in from the left and lashes a low, hard drive straight at Martinez, who handles well.

40 min: Villa are giving Liverpool a good game here, and the home fans try to get their team going again. Anfield remains a cauldron of noise. “If David Coote is the most idiosyncratic Premier League referee, then he’s a perfect match for Nuñez’s free-jazz interpretation of being a top-flight striker,” argues Andy (not that one) Flintoff, not inaccurately.

38 min: … Carlos flashes another header goalwards from the same position as Onana before him. Kelleher makes a point-blank stop on his line, Gravenberch puts his body in the way to ensure the loose ball isn’t forced home, then the ball’s half cleared. It’s then swung in deep from the right, and Digne can only ripple the side netting with Kelleher on walkabout. Three huge chances for Villa in not much more than 60 seconds.

37 min: Rogers forces another corner down the right. Digne takes. Onana rises at the near stick and eyebrows a powerful header goalwards. Kelleher tips over. Then from the next corner …

36 min: Digne crosses dangerously from the left. Bailey nearly gets onto it at the far stick, but he’s one yard short of connecting. Villa are creating chances.

34 min: Rogers is booked for a clumsy late slide on Van Dijk. It wasn’t the best challenge, but it wasn’t the worst either, so that seems about right. You can depend on David Coote!

33 min: Salah floats a cross-cum-shot in from the right, the result of another Villa giveaway. Martinez claims the ball and issues some beneficial advice to his team-mates in the animated style.

32 min: Another Villa corner … and it should be another Liverpool goal. The hosts tear clear again, and Nunez is sent through from the halfway line! He enters the box, opens his body, and with only Martinez to beat, lashes a wild shot high over the bar and wide right. Kári Tulinius must be in heaven right now.

31 min: TNT Sport have just shown a replay of the goal which includes referee David Coote gesticulating in a way which suggests he doesn’t think Bailey’s challenge on Salah was even a foul. So there’d have been no red had Nunez missed. You have to wonder about Coote sometimes. He’s by some distance the most, eh, idiosyncratic official in the Premier League.

29 min: Salah rolls a pass across the face of the Villa box, teeing up an opportunity for Diaz, who is in fine goalscoring form after his midweek hat-trick against the champions of Germany … but this time takes a fresh-air swipe. Ah the vicissitudes of top-flight sport.

27 min: Nunez nearly doubles Kári Tulinius’s joy, but can’t rise high enough to head home Salah’s cross from the right. Had the ball been delivered a couple of inches lower, Nunez was surely bulging the net from six yards.

25 min: Watkins has a whack from the right-hand edge of the Liverpool D. He drags the shot harmlessly wide left. “I’m not a Liverpool fan, but the Premier League is more fun when Darwin Núñez scores goals,” writes Kári Tulinius. “It’s also fun when he inexplicably misses sitters, so I guess he just makes football more fun by existing.”

24 min: Alexander-Arnold goes down, and can’t continue. A tweaked hamstring maybe. Bradley comes on in his place. England squad re-jig coming up, you’d have thought.

22 min: Watkins tries to respond quickly by taking on Konate down the left. He enters the box only to be shouldered powerfully off the ball. He swan-dives preposterously, looking for a penalty that’s never going to be awarded. Indeed the referee awards a free kick against Watkins … but doesn’t book him for simulation. That’s all a bit weird.

21 min: Bailey is very fortunate that Nunez scored, because he was surely off otherwise.

19 min: Tielemans can’t get a shot away from the edge of the Liverpool box, but the hosts are panicking a bit, and Konate needlessly shanks a simple clearance backwards and out for a corner. Tielemans to take.

17 min: Villa again with the slow restart, with Martinez cast as pantomime villain. They’re getting under the skin of the home fans, which is surely a big part of it. This sort of thing doesn’t always go well for Liverpool, as anyone old enough to remember the Gerrard slip game can attest. Jose and Chelsea did a proper number on Anfield that famous afternoon.

15 min: Konsa embarks on a dribbling odyssey down the right, and reaches the edge of the Liverpool box before running slap-bang into Robertson. Villa soon come again, Ramsey nearly making space to shoot on the left, Tielemans then crossing deep for Bailey to head over. Villa right in this now, after a slow start, and looking dangerous.

13 min: Those two Villa attacks have quietened the Liverpool crowd a bit. Task one completed by the visitors.

11 min: Villa show in attack for the first time. Watkins picks up possession on the left-hand corner of the Liverpool box, opens his body and curls a decent effort towards the top-right corner but over the bar. Kelleher had it covered. Villa soon come again, Ramsey advancing down the left channel. Digne makes a dummy run, which Alexander-Arnold follows. Suddenly there’s a huge gap! Ramsey enters the box and shoots, but the ball’s blocked the moment it leaves his boot, Gravenberch sliding across. That’s fine last-ditch defending by the midfielder.

9 min: The corner comes in, and the whistle goes as a result of Liverpool’s over-enthusiastic pushing and shoving. Then Martinez and Torres take an absurd amount of time over the restart. This is already getting old. At least they didn’t somehow manage to concede a penalty this time. Mings on the bench, well out of harm’s way.

8 min: Jones rolls down the right channel in the hope of releasing Mac Allister. Digne is forced to telescope a leg to divert out for the first corner of the game. Robertson to take.

7 min: Gravenberch spins Tielemans and is clipped for his trouble. Villa may already be approaching the point where the next one earns a booking. Liverpool get the ball rolling, Diaz juggling his way down the left and dinking infield, but his cross doesn’t find Mac Allister, waiting six yards out to head home.

5 min: Alexander-Arnold slips Salah into space down the right. Salah drifts into the box, shapes to curl towards the top left, as he so often does, but instead switches and aims for the bottom right instead. Torres is wise to the grift and extends a leg to block. Great play all round.

4 min: Konsa takes an age over a throw. A bit early for this sort of carry-on. “Sending big hugs commiserations to Mary Waltz as the skies darken over there,” begins Charles Antaki. “Not that we’re especially sunny over here, but at least we don’t have the drumrolls and the frightening music on the soundtrack. May the MBM be a pleasant distraction. Also Everton, but one mustn’t hope for too much.”

3 min: Salah dinks the ball past Digne to advance down the right, and is tugged back. The referee shows no interest in giving a free kick. The former Everton full-back getting away with one there.

2 min: Liverpool on the front foot immediately. Salah floats a pass down the right for Nunez, who shields the ball before falling over in the box with Carlos behind him. There’s minimal contact, and Nunez was looking for it, so the referee’s not interested. A muted claim fizzles out quickly.

Now back to that beautiful football noise … and it’s Liverpool who get the ball rolling. They’re kicking towards the Kop in this first half.

Once the last strains of You’ll Never Walk Alone disappear into the night sky, a lone bugler plays the Last Post, the night before Remembrance Sunday. Exquisitely played, met with perfect silence, then a warm ovation.

The teams are out! Liverpool all red, Aston Villa all white. A bit like Real Madrid have come to town, three weeks early. A cracking few-pints-in atmosphere at Anfield, which reportedly rocked during the second half against Brighton last weekend. It’s usually one louder when the lights are on. The Villa support making their fair contribution to the noise as well. Here’s to everyone keeping it up.

Pre-match postbag. “I’m one of many Liverpool fans who are growing to love Slot’s mixture of confidence and clarity when dealing with the media. Latest example being your quote from him on facing teams who come with a specific plan. Klopp was refreshingly human when he arrived; Slot seems to have gone one further managing to be both reserved, warm, good humoured and illuminating (up to a point). Let’s see if his demeanour survives when we inevitably hit a bump in the road, but for now I’m enjoying it immensely” – Tony Barr

“One key to Liverpool’s success is their masterful use of space in the midfield. Case in point: Mac Allister. No, not MacAllister. Mac. Space. Allister. Just enough room to slot the ball through and break the opponents’ line” – Peter Oh

“The night time kick off is terrible for the last train back to Brum is at half nine. However, what better excuse to experience the delights of Bold Street, Matthew Street and Concert Square in what the locals call the greatest city in the world?” – Bill Preston

“Greetings from Occupied Trump America. PL football and Guardian MBM are part of my anti-depressant regime to get through the next four years. It made another so-so Everton performance this morning seem OK. Liverpool-AV should be a banger” – Mary Waltz

Unai Emery speaks to TNT. “We are managing every player … we are confident with Ollie Watkins … even if he is not scoring he is successful in everything we need … he is very important not only for scoring goals but everything else as well … Jhon Duran is getting comfortable … hopefully we can use both … our support is fantastic … we are playing for them.”

Tonight’s 5.30pm kick-off has just finished … and, now then, how about this for a result … Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 Manchester City. That’s the four-in-a-row champions’ fourth defeat in a row in all competitions. City haven’t been on such a miserable run since the spring of 2006, when Stuart Pearce was manager and Micah Richards was an 18-year-old prodigy just breaking through. That run eventually stretched to six defeats on the spin, and when they snapped that sorry sequence they went and lost their next four as well. Don’t expect things to pan out like that again this time, even if their next three games are against Spurs, Feyenoord and … Liverpool, who now have a chance to stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League table to five points.

Slot also goes some way to explaining why Liverpool have been slow starters in most matches this season, picking up speed significantly in the second half. “There are many things we can do better … the threshold is quite high for us … I see that certain things are done better by other teams than us … you wonder which ones? … that’s what we talk about during the week … hopefully we keep improving … it’s necessary in a difficult league like this … Xabi Alonso has played the same style for one, two years I think … he came here playing Boniface as a left winger … that is a compliment to our players … every team that comes here feels they need a special plan … the good thing for us is that’s mostly the first time they play it, so you could argue it’s not an advantage for them to do that … but they feel it’s an advantage … in the first half we have to adjust a bit … then it’s a disadvantage for us that we have only worked together for three or four months, because if you work with a team for three or four years, you’ve faced every system … everyone just knows what to do … sometimes now we need half-time for that … but it’s a matter of time before we’re adjusting faster than that.”

Arne Slot speaks to TNT Sports. “Everyone has mainly focused on our results, which have been good … you also enjoy your time if you work with people that you really like and the staff and everybody at Liverpool welcomed me and my staff a lot … if you then also have the results then you enjoy your time at the club … I expected Luis Diaz to do well but to do so well was even for me a bit of a surprise … if you have four attackers like we have, you are always a bit tempted, who should you play? … Cody has played so many games that we thought these three should be the best pick … we will know after the game if that was the right choice to make … in every decision a lot goes into it … confidence … how much they have played recently … this is now the second time Curtis has been lined up … Macca had some rest in the League Cup game … Szoboszlai would have been a good pick as well … ideally we will start the game like we end it … but that is easier said than done … our opponent is also really fresh when the game starts.”

Liverpool make two changes to their starting XI from the 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday. Darwin Núñez and Andrew Robertson replace Cody Gakpo and Kostas Tsimikas.

Aston Villa make four changes after their 1-0 defeat at Club Brugge on Wednesday. Pau Torres, Lucas Digne, Amadou Onana and Jacob Ramsey come in for Ian Maatsen, Boubacar Kamara, the unfortunate Tyrone Mings, and captain John McGinn.