Arne Slot explains why he substituted Trent Alexander-Arnold in Liverpool’s draw at Aston Villa

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Liverpool had to make do with just a point frmo Wednesday’s Premier League encounter at Aston Villa.

The Reds opened the scoring on 29th minute through Mohamed Salah, who fired home following good work from Diogo Jota.

However, Youri Tielemans equalised on 38 minutes when Liverpool failed to clear their lines from an Aston Villa free-kick.

Then, Ollie Watkins put Villa ahead on the stroke of half-time, heading home from Lucas Digne’s cross.

However, Liverpool did enough to salvage a draw when Trent Alexander-Arnold emphatically fired in after being set up by Salah.

Arne Slot made the decision to take Alexander-Arnold off, which annoyed a number of Liverpool fans, along with Diogo Jota’s substitution.

Slot, speaking after the game, explained why he took both players off despite them playing well.

READ MORE: Arne Slot says Liverpool player with no Premier League starts this season ‘will be important for us’ in the run-in

Arne Slot says Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota could ‘only play 60’ minutes v Aston Villa

Slot, speaking to reporters after the game, stressed that Jota had spent a lot of time on the sidelines and, as such, could only play for around 60 minutes.

The Liverpool manager decided to take Jota off so as to not over-exert him, and he suggested this was the case with Alexander-Arnold.

“For months, Jota almost hasn’t been available,” Slot told TNT Sports. “He could only play 60 today, same as Trent and that is why we had to make those substitutions.

“I would love to keep them in the team but we have to play Sunday and Wednesday again and you saw with Conor Bradley how much of a risk it is.

“But Jota and Trent played good games.”

Alexander-Arnold recently missed two games – the FA Cup loss against Plymouth and the League Cup second-leg hammering of Tottenham – with a hamstring injury.

How Trent Alexander-Arnold fared against Aston Villa

Alexander-Arnold was in fine form against Villa, scoring the equaliser and chipping in defensively.

Alexander-Arnold also found the target with five of his seven long balls and one of his two crosses, and 37 of his 43 passes found the target.

With so many Premier League teams finding themselves with depleted squads, it makes sense for Slot to be so cautious with players who’ve not long returned from injury.

Liverpool are next in action on Sunday when they head to Manchester City in the Premier League.