McGinn wishes Watkins was Scottish!
John McGinn lauded the performance of two-goal hero Ollie Watkins at Villa Park, and said: "I wish he was Scottish" in an interview with Sky Sports.
"I wish he was Scottish! He was disappointed in March [to be left out of England squad] but if it gave him a kick up the backside, he certainly responded in the best way. "What he has done for this club in the last few seasons. It's incredible. I think he might have just snuck his way onto that plane. Hopefully he can carry it on into Wednesday."
Full-time: Aston Villa 4-2 Liverpool
Two for Watkins, a goal for Rogers and one for McGinn seals Champions League football for Emery's men.
The perfect result heading into the Europa League final next Wednesday!
90+2: Van Dijk at the double!
The Liverpool captain gets his brace as he heads home from Szoboszlai's cross.
We've played two of eight minutes of added time.
There couldn't be a comeback, surely?
89: McGinn adds a fourth!
The Scotsman was called 'Super John McGinn' by the Villa announcer, and he more than justified that tag with a wonderful finish here!
He caresses a wonderful left-footed shot into the back of the net, and Emery tosses his jacket up in the air to celebrate.
Villa are heading back into the Champions League in style!
86: Alarming Liverpool stat
Sky Sports has just shown a rather concerning stat for Liverpool this season.
Should they lose tonight, then the Reds would have lost seven of their eight away games against sides in the top nine!
73: Watkins gets Villa's third!
Liverpool's defending has been absolutely woeful, but Villa are taking full advantage.
Tielemans' initial effort is saved Mamardashvili, and the Georgian denies Torres on the follow-up, before Watkins fires home his second of the game.
Are you watching Thomas Tuchel?
71: A stunning effort from Buendia!
A superb strike from Buendia, as he rattles the post with a brilliant right-footed strike.
Martinez played a key role again with an excellent long ball out to Cash, who teed up Buendia.
69: Watkins and Rogers look to cause more havoc
Martinez plays a huge ball upfield towards Watkins, who looks to play in Rogers, but Kerkez makes a fine last-ditch sliding challenge.
The Villa keeper looked well outside his box as he lumped the ball forward, though.
62: Gomez enters the book
The Liverpool defender charges into the back of Buendia and gets his name jotted down in Chris Kavanagh's book.
57: Watkins restores Villa's lead!
It's all happening here!
Szoboszlai's costly slip allows Rogers to pick the Hungarian's pocket and plays in Watkins to provide a very tidy finish past Mamardashvili.
He almost has a second moments later, but the Reds shot-stopper does just enough to thwart the forward.
56: Ngumoha hits the post!
What did I say earlier about Ngumoha cutting inside?!
The youngsters drifts in off the left and sees his right-footed shot cannon off the post, before Gakpo blazes over on the follow-up.
Huge let-off for Villa
52: Van Dijk heads home!
Van Dijk heads home from Szoboszlai's sublime set-piece into the box, and Liverpool restore parity!
There was a brief VAR check for offside, but the Dutchman's goal stands.
51: Fast start from Liverpool
Slot will be looking for a response from his players, and he almost got it there with two quickfire chances for Jones and Gomez.
It looked like Ngumoha had taken the ball out of play, so it might not have counted anyway.
46: Second half underway
Emery makes one change ahead of the restart, with Barkley replacing Lindelof.
Half-time: Aston Villa 1-0 Liverpool
Rogers' strike is the difference at Villa Park, and the Villans are on course to cement a top-five finish tonight!
Rogers breaks the deadlock!
How many times have we seen that from Morgan Rogers!
He cuts inside from the left flank and fires home a clinical right-footed strike past Mamardashvili.
Looking at the replay, and the Georgian may have been disappointed not to keep that one out, though.
More Liverpool pressure
Martinez makes a fine save to deny Szoboszlai, and Slot's men are enjoying their best spell in the game now.
Gakpo's effort is chalked off
Martinez hardly covers himself in glory as he spills Gravenberch's shot from distance.
Gakpo reacts quickest on the follow up to slot home, but the Argentine's blushes are spared by the linesman's flag.
Ngumoha has a go
The 17-year-old has been one of Liverpool's shining lights this season.
He cuts inside on his right and sees his shot go well over the bar, but Villa's defence won't be wanting him to do that too many times!
First opening for Liverpool
Slot's side have shown little going forward so far, but Van Dijk meets Szoboszlai's free kick with a header and the ball falls to Gakpo.
The Dutchman goes down as Konsa looks to make the interception, but the officials are unmoved.
Mamardashvili left stranded
Liverpool have looked very shaky defensively here.
Mamardashvili is caught well outside his goal as Rogers looks to pick out Watkins, but the chance comes to nothing.
Watkins in the mood
The Villa frontman has looked lively the opening exchanges, and gets away from Van Dijk before firing over the bar from close range.
Worryingly though, he goes down injured in the aftermath of that chance. Emery is rightly looking pensive with the Europa League final just around the corner!
He's fine to continue though. Cue a huge collective sigh of relief from the Villa fans!
Kick-off!
We're underway at Villa Park!
Watkins has already had an early opportunity with a close-range effort, forcing a low save from Mamardashvili.
Salah and Robertson watch on
Two of Liverpool's old guard are both on the bench tonight, with both set for pastures new this summer.
Could Salah come on and score in what would be his final away appearance for the Reds?
Slot aiming to avoid dirty dozen
Liverpool will be looking to avoid a 12th league defeat this season. They've also been beaten on the road eight times, which is their highest total since the 2011/12 and 2014/15 campaigns!
Emery's pre-match thoughts
Here's what the Villa manager had to say to Sky Sports ahead of the game, and addressed Victor Lindelof's new role in midfield:
He said: "I spoke with him five months ago when he was playing some minutes when we were without [Boubacar] Kamara and [Amadou] Onana. "We were trying to give him chances to play there. Bogarde is doing good work, but we sometimes need experience. "Lindelof was playing as a midfielder at Benfica 10 years ago. He is an experienced player and a responsible player, and he is always doing his task. "If we want him to be playing brilliantly in this position, maybe it is not the way. But he is doing his task, and it is very important, just in this moment, for him to do it."
The Liverpool side for tonight
Arne Slot makes one change to the team which shared the spoils with Chelsea last Saturday. Joe Gomez comes in for Jeremie Frimpong, while Mohamed Salah is back into the squad and takes place on the bench. Florian Wirtz is also among the substitutes after recovering from an illness.
Liverpool: Mamardashvili; Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Jones, Mac Allister; Ngumoha, Gakpo, Szoboszlai Subs: Woodman (GK), Wirtz, Salah, Chiesa, Robertson, Nyoni, McConnell, Ndiaye, Wright.
The Villa team news
Here's the team which Unai Emery has named for tonight.
He has made three changes to the side which drew with Burnley last Sunday, as Pau Torres, Lucas Digne and Emi Buendia all come into the starting 11.
They replace Tyrone Mings, Ian Maatsen and Ross Barkley.
Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Pau Torres, Digne; Lindelof, Tielemans; McGinn, Rogers, Buendia; Watkins. Subs: Bizot (GK), Barkley, Garcia, Abraham, Sancho, Luiz, Maatsen, Bogarde, Bailey.
Good evening!
Welcome to live updates of the Premier League clash between Aston Villa and Liverpool. Kick-off is at 20:00 BST.
