Liverpool vs Aston Villa LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction today
Follow all the action as Steven Gerrard returns to Anfield
There was no happy homecoming for Steven Gerrard, no “celebrating like a crazy devil,” no narratives feeding into future ambitions. The man he termed “100 per cent the best player in the world now” saw to that, firing in a low, hard penalty to further Liverpool’s title fight.
Mohamed Salah’s direct goal contribution ticked over to 14 consecutive league games, his 67th-minute winner deflating an Aston Villa side that departed without a shot on target.
The task was not to make it easy for Liverpool, but Gerrard’s men didn’t figure it would be this hard to conjure threat of their own.
The scoreline belied a story of enterprise versus total obstruction, with substitute Diogo Jota missing a glorious chance late on to make that more clear.
Norwich 0 - 1 Man Utd
83 mins: Chance! Norwich work the ball in from the right and United fail to deal with it properly. The ball comes to Billy Gilmour just outside the box and he has a shot blocked by Dalot. The follow up comes back to him and his second shot hits Bailly and deflects wide of the lef-thand post!
Norwich 0 - 1 Man Utd
81 mins: Norwich have stepped it up since going behind. They’re pushing United deeper and deeper and working crosses into the box from the wide areas. Lees-Malou is on in place of Rupp and he’s getting stuck right in, driving his team forward.
Norwich 0 - 1 Man Utd
78 mins: Victor Lindelof never came back onto the pitch he’s gone down the tunnel for further assessment and Eric Bailly has replaced him for Man Utd.
Save! Dalot picks up a yellow card for a bad tackle and Norwich win a free kick. It’s swung into the box and Ozan Kabak gets up highest. He wins the header and starts celebrating. It’s heading for the bottom left hand corner but De Gea leaps to his right and palms the ball away! Great save!
GOAL! Norwich 0 - 1 Man Utd (Ronaldo, 75’)⚽️
75 mins: Cristiano Ronaldo won the penalty and Cristiano Ronaldo scores the penalty! Manchester United take the lead!
Penalty to Man Utd!
Norwich 0 - 0 Man Utd
73 mins: Norwich head the corner out of the box but McTominay recovers the ball. He whips it back into the middle towards Ronaldo who is pulled to the ground by Aarons.
It’s a soft one but VAR doesn’t overturn the decision.
Norwich 0 - 0 Man Utd
72 mins: Todd Cantwell comes on to replace Przemyslav Placheta for Norwich as the Manchester United medical team come on to take a look at Victor Lindelof. He went down off the ball pointing to his first chest. He’s guided off the pitch for a check up.
Rashford takes on Aarons with a run into the box and wins a corner for the visitors.
Norwich 0 - 0 Man Utd
69 mins: Norwich put together a decent counter-attack after Fred gets beaten in midfield and the ball comes up to Pukki. He’s got Placheta for company but the pass across to him is wild and Placheta has to sprint to keep it alive. He sends a cross into the box but De Gea plucks the ball out of the air.
Norwich 0 - 0 Man Utd
66 mins: Jadon Sancho is taken off by Ralf Rangnick and Mason Greenwood comes on. Maybe he can provide that bit of spark that this game needs. At the minute it looks likely to be a goalless draw.
Norwich 0 - 0 Man Utd
63 mins: Norwich attempt to work the ball down the right wing but Rupp runs into trouble against Telles and the ball goes out for a Manchester United throw in.
Norwich 0 - 0 Man Utd
60 mins: Lots of pressure from Norwich who win four corners in a row that somehow Manchester United deal with it. They’re scrambling widely at the back before the final corner is whipped straight into the hands of De Gea.
Sancho brings the ball down the left wing and passes the ball inside to Rashford. He takes a snapshot from the edge of the box but pulls it narrowly wide of the near post.
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