Liverpool began badly at Villa Park as a poor pass from Adrian – deputising for Alisson in goal for the visitors after the Brazilian picked up a shoulder injury – gifted Watkins the opener in the fourth minute.
Adrian has made five errors directly leading to opposition goals in his 21 appearances for Liverpool in all competitions, the same number as Alisson in 92 games for the club.
Ahead of the Spaniard, a full-strength Liverpool defence was carved open again moments later, with former Everton midfielder Ross Barkley – making his debut after joining Villa on loan – gifted another chance, but he dragged his effort wide.
“All the things you should not do in a football match we did tonight,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said. “The first goal had an impact but it shouldn’t. We conceded goals like that in the past, but the reaction wasn’t good, and we lost the plot.”
If there was an element of good fortune about Watkins’s first goal in a Villa shirt, his second was all his own fine work, as he cut inside before firing into the top corner to stun the champions and make it 2-0 in the 22nd minute.
Mohamed Salah’s fine left-foot finish seemed to get Liverpool back in the game in the 33rd minute, but John McGinn’s deflected strike two minutes later restored Villa’s two-goal advantage.
Watkins completed a perfect hat-trick inside 39 minutes with his head, becoming the first player to score a Premier League treble against Liverpool in over a decade, and Barkley made it five 10 minutes into the second half.
