'The goals will come' – Emery remains confident in misfiring Villa frontline
Aston Villa were looking to make it five Premier League wins on the bounce at Anfield, but instead, they were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool.
Unai Emery vowed that "the goals will come" for Aston Villa after they saw their Premier League winning streak ended by Liverpool on Saturday.
The Reds ended their own four-game losing run with the 2-0 win, thanks to goals in either half from Mohamed Salah and Ryan Gravenberch.
Villa, however, played a part in their own downfall, with Emiliano Martinez gifting the ball to Salah with a poor pass before Pau Torres got the telling touch on Gravenberch's strike to deflect it into the goal.
Emery's side had their chances at Anfield, though, with Morgan Rogers hitting the post just five minutes in, while Matty Cash also saw a deflected cross almost sneak in.
However, Villa have scored just nine goals in 10 Premier League games this season, the fewest by an Emery-led side at this stage of a season in Europe's big five leagues.
They created just 0.3 expected goals (xG) from their 10 shots overall, with only three of those on target, but Emery remains confident they will come good in front of goal sooner rather than later.
"We competed, and we dominated sometimes," Emery told BBC Sport.
"We were feeling good, and we created some chances, hit the post, and we were more or less getting confident, but here at Anfield it is hard to dominate like we did in the last 30 minutes.
"We conceded one [disallowed] goal, which was a clear offside, and the goal we conceded, making the mistake, we have to be so demanding in how we are trying to stop the opponent. We are trying to get better.
"We lost, and in the first half, the goal was very important for them. We had some chances to get in their box, but we didn't score. We have to accept this defeat and try to keep going while looking forward to the next matches.
"We need to keep working and keep being positive after we started the season so poorly. Now the next challenge is next Sunday against Bournemouth.
"We have to get our structure. Some need time to recover their form and be more clinical in everything they are doing. The goals will come, working like we are working."
Since beating Liverpool 7-2 in October 2020, Villa are winless in their last 10 meetings with the Reds in the Premier League (D3 L1).
Martinez's wayward pass was Villa's first mistake leading to a goal in the top flight this season, and while Ezri Konsa lamented the lapses in concentration that cost them the points, he remained upbeat.
"I think we can take some positives from the game. We created some chances, two sloppy passes, and they scored two goals, but we have to keep going, stick together and focus on the next game now," he told TNT Sports.
"Mistakes happen in football, and we made two of them, and when you give the ball away so cheaply against a top side like this, you get punished, and that's what happened.
"The last four games prior to this, we won, so we have to keep believing. Liverpool have been on a bad run themselves, and they really needed a win. They got it and we didn't."
