Virgil van Dijk seemed to show his frustration at Darwin Nunez after Liverpool failed to beat Aston Villa on Wednesday.

The Reds were held to a 2-2 draw at Villa Park, but they could've won the game had Nunez not missed an open goal from around 10 yards out after coming off the bench. The result leaves Liverpool eight points clear at the top of the Premier League standings, but Arsenal will cut that gap to five points if it beats West Ham at home on Saturday.

Liverpool skipper Van Dijk spoke to TNT Sports after Wednesday's game. He said: "A bit disappointed but we fight. We had chances to win the game, took a bit of a risk at the end so it got more open at times. We take a point and move on and focus on a big one at the weekend, again.

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"In possession we did quite well, created good opportunities to score the second. Disappointing to concede from a set-piece. We tried everything and unfortunately it wasn't enough for three points."

Van Dijk then appeared to reference Nunez's miss by adding: "We should have scored 3-2, but credit to Aston Villa, they made it very difficult. We have a very tough one on the weekend again, then we play Newcastle, our focus now will be on Man City, a very difficult game, we know that. Do everything in your power to win games, the focus will be that on Sunday again."

The Reds took the lead on Wednesday through Mohamed Salah, but they found themselves 2-1 down at halftime thanks to goals from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins. Trent Alexander-Arnold scored just after the hour mark before Nunez's remarkable miss.

Nunez, 25, has struggled to make an impression on Merseyside since his big-money switch from Benfica during the summer of 2022. He's scored just 24 Premier League goals to date and has a habit of missing big chances.

"Wow," former Leeds and Doncaster Rovers striker Lucy Ward said on commentary after Nunez missed his chance. "What a ball that is from Conor Bradley to (Dominik) Szoboszlai. Nunez has got to get that on target."

Villa striker Ollie Watkins also told TNT Sports at fulltime. He said: "It was a tough game. They are at the top of the league for a reason. We have a strong record here and always make it hard for teams. Even though we went behind we reacted well and could have nicked it at the end. Unai Emery is really demanding of us and we haven't been performing as well of late so he will be happy with that performance.

"It is nice playing with quality players and I am sure in the future games I will get more opportunities. They haven't had that long to show what they can do and they are still finding their feet. When they get a few games under their belt I am sure it will flow and connect together nicely. Any team we play, we want to win the game and we will focus on ourselves and see where we are come the end of the season."

Liverpool's next game will be an even bigger challenge, with a trip to Manchester City looming. Pep Guardiola's players were dumped out of the Champions League on Wednesday after suffering a 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid in Spain, as Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick.