Aston Villa sits solidly in fourth position, five points ahead of Tottenham entering the last round of the Premier League, after rallying from behind to hold Liverpool 3-3 in round 37.

At Villa Park, the most recent round 37 match featured a captivating duel. In the second minute, midfielder Pau Torres was hit by a cross from Harvey Elliott, who came in from the right side to give Liverpool the lead. After being shocked, Emiliano Martinez, the 2022 World Cup winner, pushed the ball into his own net.

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This is the Premier League’s earliest own goal at 61 seconds, having been scored by Antolin Alcaraz in Everton’s match against Southampton in April 2014 at the age of just 54 seconds. Martinez has also given up a goal in the Premier League for the third time, which is the worst record of any goalie in the competition’s history.

Naturally, Villa was rocked, and Liverpool had a foul smell. Then, as if by magic, Villa were level.

Elliott misplayed a pass, hitting a Villa defender. John McGinn then found Ollie Watkins by threading the ball through.

With an electrifying burst of pace, the England striker left youthful Jarrell Quansah dead in his tracks as he menacingly charged forward and slowed him down.

Watkins had the superb judgment to draw the ball back past the penalty area after getting around the back of the Reds defense.

And Tielemans was speeding towards Alisson and three defenders to smack the ball low.

However, halfway through this incredible half, Liverpool eventually took the lead again.

After Diaz pushed the ball wide to Joe Gomez, Salah played in the left-back, who swept in a low cross that Martinez could only barely touch.

That gave the easiest of tap-ins to Cody Gakpo, who was inrushing.

These are the Premier League’s 1,195th and 1,196th goals, respectively, making this season the second-highest goal total in the competition’s history, trailed only by the 1,222 goals scored in the 1992–1993 season.

However, before VAR Chris Kavanagh finally awarded the goal, Liverpool had to endure a few stressful minutes as he looked for TWO potential offsides in the build-up.

Villa had a great opportunity to respond quickly, but they surprisingly let it slip away—32 years after Ronnie Rosenthal’s century-long mistake at the same location.

Konsa threw the ball to Bailey, who stopped Alisson, and Watkins was about to tap the ball in easily at the far post.

To the striker’s dismay, however, Diego Carlos darted in front of him and poked the ball one yard wide of an open goal!

Carlos would have been projected to score 96 times out of 100 attempts from that range if Opta’s XG factor had been 0.96.

Three minutes after the restart, Liverpool gave themselves the security of a two-goal lead after surviving that scare.

Martinez was left rooted to the spot as Elliott awarded a free kick in the 48th minute, allowing midfielder Jarell Quansah to head diagonally and bounce the ball into the net.

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After 52 minutes, Villa believed they had retaliated when Tielmans sent Bailey and Diaby racing clear.

Bailey set up Watkins’ goal, and the striker rejoiced to become the first Villa player to record 20 goals in the Premier League—at least he believed it until VAR got involved.

Bailey was declared to have been fractionally offside, and the Jamaican retaliated angrily, accusing someone of having told him Diaby was in a better position to receive the ball.

Watkins attempted a backheel to surprise Alisson, but it was unsuccessful.

The ball was then bunched home by Elliott after Diaz burst free and squared to him, only for VAR to disqualify yet another “goal.”

After Alexis Mac Allister was taken out by substitute Callum Chambers, the ball found its way to Jhon Duran, whose deft first touch allowed him to beat Alisson with a shot from the edge of the box.

Then, Darwin Nunez sprinted clear to score at the opposite end, but VAR flagged it as offside.

Amazingly, Duran had the final say when he added a second goal to tie the score at 88 minutes for Villa.

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With the 3-3 victory, Duran made Premier League history as the first substitute player to score twice against Liverpool since Leroy Sane of Man City did so in September 2017.

Liverpool’s final game under manager Jurgen Klopp will take place on May 19 when they return to Anfield to play Wolves.