Left-back Andy Robertson explains how important Liverpool's win over Aston Villa was.

Salah scored his 55th Premier League away goal for Liverpool, moving him level with ex-Reds striker Michael Owen, who holds the record in the Anfield club's history.

Scotland full-back Andy Robertson says it was important Liverpool restarted the Premier League campaign with a victory against Aston Villa.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp named six changes following his side's Carabao Cup fourth-round loss to Manchester City on Thursday, with England duo Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold returned to the starting line-up along with goalkeeper Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The Reds started the match at Villa Park I’m flying colours and took the lead when Mohamed Salah calmly finished off an assist from Robertson in the 5th minute, and centre-back Virgil Van Dijk doubled the lead in the 37th minute as Liverpool ended the first half with a 2-0 lead.

14 minutes into the second half, Ollie Watkins reduced the deficit for the hosts, who failed to seal a comeback as Stefan Bajcetic’s 81st-minute goal ensured Liverpool recorded a third successive league win for the first time this season.

The victory means the Merseyside club reduced the gap to the final Champions League spot to five points.

However, Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson asserted the match and admitted that he was pleased with the win while speaking to BBC Sport: "It was almost perfect. Away from home, we've not been good enough. We had a big result at Tottenham before the break and it was important for us to back it up. It was an important three points for us.

"The first half couldn't have gone much better for us. We knew they were going to react, be more positive, and get after us. They made it tough [in the second half], we conceded a goal and sometimes you have to dig deep. Today we showed a different side to us where we dug in and then we hurt them on the counter-attack."

When asked about his 54th Premier League assist, a new record for a defender, the 28-year-old replied: "We started well, I put a ball across for Darwin [Nunez] and we got a corner. Then Trent [Alexander-Arnold] played an unbelievable ball to me and I saw Mo [Salah] at the far post.

Liverpool's Robertson registered his 54th Premier League assist at Villa Park [BBC MOTD]

"Full-backs are evolving, it's about going forward as well as defending. I want to defend, first and foremost, but going forward is a big part of your game too.

• Klopp’s thoughts on Liverpool’s top four hopes.

"I knew I equalled the record with two [assists] before the break and I was focused on trying to get back and beating it. I'm not into individual things but when you do stuff like that against some unbelievable defenders in the Premier League, it's good to put yourselves at the top like that."

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