Goals from Sadio Mane and Curtis Jones settled a game in which champions Liverpool were far from their best against Aston Villa.
Match Reports
Liverpool won their first game at Anfield as Premier League champions as a 2-0 victory piled the misery on relegation-threatened Aston Villa.
Having been angered by the Reds' 4-0 loss to Manchester City on Thursday, Jurgen Klopp saw his side triumph on Sunday even if the performance still left much to be desired.
Sadio Mane's 71st-minute goal broke the visitors' stubborn resolve before Curtis Jones added late gloss as Dean Smith's men, winless in nine in the league, remained in the bottom three.
EPL Standings
Match Events
20' Yellow Card! Robertson booked
Robertson picks up the first yellow card of the game after cutting out Luiz's run.
58' Van Dijk makes an important clearance
Van Dijk gives the ball to Luiz and he has a lot of room to run into down the middle. He has El Ghazi with him in support and he drifts past Robertson before cutting into the box. Van Dijk recovers though and makes an important interception before he can have a shot.
71' GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa (Mane)
Mane gets goal side of Taylor at the far post as Keita squares the ball through the middle and there's nothing the Villa defenders can do as he sidefoots his shot over Reina and into the roof of the net. 1-0 Liverpool!
76' NICE TRY! Firmino's shot saved
Firmino plays a one-two with Salah on the edge of the box to open up some space for a shot and he takes it first time when he gets the return. He squeezes it through the defenders in the box and Reina dives across to push it away.
89' GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Aston Villa (Curtis Jones)
He's left in a lot of space in the middle of the box and he hits the shot on the volley when he gets it from Salah. It bounces in front of Reina before hitting the back of the net for his first Premier League goal.