Arne Slot reveals Darwin Nunez reaction to horror Aston Villa miss | OneFootball

Liverpool manager Arne Slot admitted Darwin Nunez was left "down and disappointed" after missing a glorious chance to seal victory over Aston Villa on Wednesday.

After Trent Alexander-Arnold's second-half equaliser, Nunez was presented with what was effectively an open goal with 20 minutes remaining after a squared ball from Dominik Szoboszlai but, with Axel Disasi chasing down, the Uruguay international could only balloon his effort high and wide as Liverpool were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw.

Nunez was already under immense pressure for his inconsistent return in front of goal, but audible fan frustration after Wednesday's miss clearly made an impact on the striker.

"I saw an unbelie­vable pass from Conor ­Bradley, a ­powerful run from Dominik ­Szoboszlai, who made in my opinion the perfect choice to square because he made it an open-goal chance and then Darwin, it was not the best, he's right-footed, of course, but it's still a big chance," Slot reflected on the move.

"I was hoping he would get another chance. We were all disappointed but it's normal that a player like this is a bit more disappointed. There is one player in the dressing room who feels quite down. You know who it is."

Slot sympathised with Nunez / Catherine Ivill - AMA/GettyImages

Liverpool now boast an eight-point lead over Arsenal in the Premier League title race, having played one game more than the Gunners, but have won just one of their last four games across all competitions.

Quizzed on whether his side had fallen into a dip ahead of Sunday's trip to Manchester City, Slot insisted: "I don't feel like that at all. If you go away to Villa, that's always a difficult fixture. At the start of the season you know: 'Villa away, that's a difficult one, City away, that's a difficult one.'

"So, ­performance-wise, not a dip at all today, in my opinion, but you might disagree.

"What we must not do and we've done a bit too often now, is we don’t get what we deserve. If you look at all the chances and put them in a row, from us and from them, I think it's clear which team should have won.

"We must not make a habit out of that because it's happened a bit too much now. But still we are eight points clear of Arsenal, who have a game in hand."