10 amazing facts from Aston Villa's stunning Premier League win against Liverpool
Barely hours after Manchester United's shock 1-6 loss at home to Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League champions Liverpool came thudding down to earth with a heavy 2-7 defeat against Aston Villa.
On a high-scoring day of Premier League action that produced 25 goals, Liverpool and Manchester United found themselves on the receiving end of inspired opposition, as two of the most successful teams in English top-flight history conceded a scarcely believable 13 goals between them.
While Manchester United's lopsided defeat could be construed as a continuation of their indifferent start to the season and the fact that they were severely inhibited after the sending off of Anthony Martial, Liverpool simply did not have any such excuses.
The reigning champions, with three wins from as many games, seemed to have started the new season from where they left off in the last campaign, but they were woefully unprepared for what awaited them at Villa Park.
It was the home side who impressed in the early proceedings as they raced to a two-goal lead midway through the first half. After Villa missed a gilt-edged chance to triple their advantage. Mohamed Salah struck back for Liverpool as the champions sought a way back into the game.
However, that was not to be. Ollie Watkins completed his first Premier League hat-trick before the interval as Liverpool fell 1-4 behind at the break. To their credit, the hosts did not opt to sit back in the second half and set up spectacularly smashing Liverpool's aura of invincibility, as their 7-2 win marked one of the most stunning upsets in Premier League history.
On that note, let us have a look at ten amazing facts about Liverpool's chastening defeat at Villa Park.
Liverpool's lopsided defeat at Villa Park marked the first time in English top-flight history since 1953 that a reigning champion conceded seven goals in a game. The Anfield club's defensive frailties were exposed by newly-promoted Leeds United in the first game of the season, as Marcelo Bielsa's side fought back from a goal down on three occasions only to come up second best in a seven-goal thriller.
However, Liverpool failed to heed the warning and came crashing down at Villa Park, as they suffered the ignominy of being the first Premier League winners to ship more than six goals in a game.
It marked the first time Liverpool conceded seven goals in a game in any competition since losing 2-7 to Tottenham in a league game in 1963.
In the process, Jurgen Klopp suffered the most lopsided defeat of his illustrious managerial career in terms of goals conceded. The German tactician had earlier been on the receiving end of a 1-6 humbling at home against Werder Bremen in the 2006-07 Bundesliga.
Quite bizarrely, the reigning champions have now conceded as many as 11 goals in just four Premier League games this season, with only 17th-placed West Bromwich Albion (13 goals) conceding more goals as things stand.
It also marked the first time the two most decorated teams in English top-flight history - Manchester United and Liverpool - conceded six or more goals on the same day.
Since losing 1-6 at Stoke City in Steven Gerrard's last game for the club in 2015, Liverpool ended up conceding six or more goals in a Premier League game for the first time.
For Villa's hat-trick hero Ollie Watkins, the player marked his first goals in the Premier League with a hat-trick, as the hosts scored seven goals in a Premier League game for only the second time in their history.
It also marked the first time Liverpool conceded a hat-trick in the English top-flight since Dimitar Berbatov did so for Manchester United in 2010.
Interestingly, Jose Mourinho's Chelsea had conceded all of 15 goals during a victorious 2004-05 Premier League campaign. A decade and a half later, Liverpool and Manchester United combined to concede almost as many on a single day.
While there were many Liverpool players who flopped big time against Villa, goalkeeper Adrian may arguably be the worst of the lot. In the absence of Alisson Becker, the Liverpool custodian endured a torrid outing and made a major error leading to a goal yet again.