Aston Villa's surprising comeback draw against Liverpool means Tottenham must beat Man City

Aston Villa took another big step towards the Champions League by fighting to a creditable 3-3 draw at home to Liverpool.

Late goals from Jhon Durán saw the Villans come back from 3-1 down to claim a point that puts them on the brink of fourth place.

The result means fifth-placed Tottenham must beat Manchester City on Tuesday night. live on talkSPORTto maintain any hope of finishing in the Champions League places as they are five points behind Unai Emery's men with two games left for Spurs.

A wonderful Monday night match had a dramatic climax with Tom Hanks looking on in awe, but it also started at a breakneck pace with the visitors taking the lead just over a minute after kick-off.

It came under strange circumstances when Villa goalkeeper Emi Martínez made an unusual mistake when spilling the ball into his own goal after initially catching a cross from the right.

The hosts counterattacked soon after thanks to a confident finish from Youri Tielemans, but Jurgen Klopp's team took the lead again when Cody Gakpo scored from close range.

But Liverpool will consider themselves lucky to be ahead with Moussa Diaby firing with his left foot when he scored. However, that missed opportunity was nothing compared to the the babysitter Diego Carlos could not convert.

The goal was at the mercy of Carlos when Leon Bailey fired a low cross from the right past Reds goalkeeper Alisson, but the defender was unable to connect properly as the ball went agonizingly wide.

That looked costly for Villa when Jarell Quansah put Liverpool two goals up with a well-placed header from a free kick early in the second half.

But the Villa Park faithful stood behind the home players and the team responded well and fought back even after a goal disallowed to Ollie Watkins due to an offside in the build-up which could have been avoided as Nicolo Zaniolo lacked composure when his left . Shot with the leg that Alisson stopped.

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Substitute Durán breathed new life into the match with an arrow shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area after some slack Liverpool defending.

The equalizer came in fortuitous circumstances when Durán inadvertently deflected Diaby's cross past Alisson's knee to send Villa Park and Hanks into chaos.

Diaby had a great chance to win it but was cleverly denied by Alisson, which would have allowed Villa to confirm their place in the Champions League.

But Villa may only have to wait another 24 hours for that as Spurs now need to beat title rivals City, a result that would hand the title initiative to their north London rivals Arsenal.

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