Fewer points than Arsenal in 2025 – Liverpool’s form continues to falter following Villa Park draw

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Aston Villa 2-2 Liverpool 

©TM/IMAGO

Liverpool moved eight points clear at the top of the Premier League on Wednesday night but it certainly wasn’t a moment worth celebrating for Arne Slot of his team. In a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Aston Villa, in which the Villa Park hosts came from behind to claim a point, the Reds may have extended their lead over second-place Arsenal in the title race, but may come to regret the manner in which they failed to see off Unai Emery’s side and claim an important win. 

“Not so happy, to be honest,” admitted the Liverpool manager to TNT Sports after the game. “We created far more chances than them and created chances to win. But we also conceded from a set piece.” When asked about the significance of dropping two points in the title race, Slot added: “The pressure is always on you if you are Liverpool. It matters where we are in the league table but the pressure is always on if you are Liverpool. We have all the ingredients to achieve success this season. There have been a lot of games this season where I have felt if one team deserved to win it was us.”

Liverpool’s dip in form in 2025

Despite Slot’s brave words, fans of the club would be forgiven for getting a little concerned. The draw with Villa now means that Liverpool have dropped points in two of their last three league games. When coupled with the recent 1-0 defeat to Plymouth in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup and a somewhat irrelevant 3-2 loss to PSV in the Champions League, it means that the Anfield giants have won just three of their last seven games in all competitions and certainly hints at their first real downturn in form under their new Dutch manager. And that has breathed new life into a league title race that many presumed was all but finished. 

Indeed, as we can see in the graphic above which illustrates the form of every Premier League club since the turn of the year, not only are Liverpool behind Arsenal with one fewer point but they’ve also played one extra game. As such, should Mikel Arteta’s side win that extra match, it would suggest that the North London club have made up a four-point gap on their Merseyside rivals in the last two months. In real terms, that would mean tightening the gap between first and second in the Premier League to five points. And while there may still be a sizable gap between the two clubs, Liverpool’s poor run of form may suggest that there will be more ground for Arsenal to make up in the coming weeks. 

What’s behind Liverpool’s drop off in form?

As to why Liverpool are now dropping points like never before, the midweek clash with Villa may offer some clues. Although Liverpool certainly had their chances and Mohamed Salah scored in his third, successive game, the Anfield giants were ultimately held back by porous defending in their own half. Over the course of the game Villa had four shots on target and stuck two of them in the back of the net and Liverpool’s recent form would certainly suggest that their defence isn’t quite as water-tight as it once was at the start of the season.

For example, in the last 10 league games Liverpool have no less than 11 goals and in their last 10 games which naturally works out at an average of just over one goal conceded per game. That, notably, is a far cry from their form at the start of the season, when Slot’s side conceded just six goals in their first 10 league games. In fact, it wasn’t until matchday 14 that Liverpool eventually conceded their eleventh goal of the league campaign. And while those numbers may point to relatively small changes in numbers, they can often be the kind of small margins that mean the difference between all three points at Villa Park on a cold Wednesday night in February and just one.