Aston Villa v Liverpool: Premier League – live!

• 8.52pm BST20:52 Goal! Aston Villa 7-2 Liverpool (Grealish 75)
• 8.42pm BST20:42 Goal! Aston Villa 6-2 Liverpool (Grealish 66)
• 8.36pm BST20:36 Goal! Aston Villa 5-2 Liverpool (Salah 60)
• 8.31pm BST20:31 Goal! Aston Villa 5-1 Liverpool (Barkley 55)
• 8.21pm BST20:21 Peeeep! Second half begins
• 8.04pm BST20:04 Half-time: Aston Villa 4 (FOUR) - 1 Liverpool
• 7.57pm BST19:57 Goal! Aston Villa 4-1 Liverpool (Watkins 39, hat-trick)

84 min: Martinez makes a “for the cameras” save from a flashing Jota header. He’s not been as busy in this half.

83 min: Adrian is behind a long-range Nakamba shot, having previously failed to deal with a cross. When I said earlier that the score here could be anything, I wasn’t really expecting this.

81 min: Some Villa changes – Nakamba and Elmohamady on for Cash and Douglas Luiz.

80 min: “This is entertaining as most games have been this season: in a ‘one for the neutrals’ kind of way,” writes Norrie Hernon. “But the elephant in the room is that it shows a glaring drop in standards. Good football relies on good defensive shape and for goals to be – relatively – rare. Otherwise we’re just watching basketball on grass. I’m not usually a miserable b*****d, I swear.”

I know what you mean. I’m not *entirely* sure what is going on but it’s no coincidence, I think, that this is all happening in such unstable and uncertain times – much as there has largely been a trend away from structured defending recently. I suspect the extremes we are currently seeing will level off and in the short term I probably welcome them, because football suffers greatly as a spectacle without fans or atmosphere and needed/needs *something* to keep people hooked at the moment. Habits change so I actually think it’s important. Goodness, there are potentially 1,000 words in this aren’t there.

This is now absolutely absurd. Grealish, holding his run the right side of halfway, is found by a brilliant McGinn pass and is – like Watkins just now – given the freedom of Liverpool’s half. Unlike Watkins, he scores with a cheeky dink and that is seven-two to Aston Villa.

74 min: The title race between Villa and Everton is going to have a very 80s vibe, isn’t it?

72 min: Oh, it should be seven! Watkins is behind the defence yet again and on current form you’d back him overwhelmingly to score, but he allows Adrian to block with a foot.

70 min: “I am going to stick my head out and say that Liverpool have been sloppy and no one can make me take that back,” writes Vibhanshu Bisht, and I think we are all praying Sky have laid on a car for Roy Keane in time for the post-match show.

68 min: I’m not really sure what sport I am watching. This is so strange. Perhaps James Milner will bring proceedings some order: he’s on for Firmino, which suggests Klopp knows the jig is finally up.

My goodness me. Now Grealish gets in on it, jinking in from the left after being fed by Watkins and blasting in via Fabinho’s face! That’s three deflected goals for Villa but they have earned them, and Liverpool have let them get into these shooting positions. This is all beyond belief.

65 min: Barkley *almost* brings down a lofted ball from Grealish but is thwarted by Minamino. Those two have looked bang on the same wavelength today – an incredibly exciting proposition for Villa.