Liverpool vs Aston Villa LIVE – score, Jacob Ramsey goal, Gakpo strike ruled out by VAR, commentary stream

Alexander-Arnold fires at Martinez after being teed up by Gakpo.

Here come the subs: Milner, Firmino and Tsimikas on for Diaz, Henderson and Robertson.

In his final home game can he manage to drag Liverpool level?

Liverpool are being really frustrated here Alexander-Arnold has just been booked for hauling down Ramsey and then he belted the ball away. Liverpool’s players are routinely gesturing to the referee over the amount of time Martinez is taking with the ball in his hands too. Villa are trying to wind their hosts up and it is working perfectly.

Curtis Jones is replaced by Diogo Jota after 63 minutes.

Jurgen Klopp might be on his way to another hefty fine if he says what I suspect he might feel about John Brooks’s performance today.

Struggling to see who was offside there. Diaz is onside when the cross comes in. Van Dijk gets the ball off the defender for his initial cutback. And Konate and Gakpo were both onside from that phase of play.

Well there we are. No goal. Offside is given. Not entirely sure if it’s because of Diaz there but referee John Brooks chalks it off.

Liverpool are level! Martinez denies Konate but Gakpo snaffles up the rebound. Actually it hits Mings on the line. They are checking it for offside.

Cody Gakpo makes it seven for the season

Lucas Digne is down for no apparent reason. He’s just put the ball behind to concede a corner and seemingly fancies a rest. Two subs for Villa as I type. Digne is one of them for Ashley Young. Leon Bailey also makes way for Alex Moreno.

At this rate, we’ll have Alisson going up for corners before the game is out.

Mings is usually good for a mistake in every game, and it may be a case of Liverpool having to capitalise on it.

Not much change to the pattern of the play so far. Liverpool are going to have to do something different because Villa are exactly where they want them.

Expect plenty of time-wasting antics from Villa this half. They have been at it for a long time and it’ll only get worse the longer the game goes on. Mings has just stayed down with a back problem after beating Gakpo to a header.

Liverpool know better than most they aren’t guaranteed a fairy-tale ending, if the Steven Gerrard taunts from the Aston Villa fans weren’t enough of a reminder. With results as they are, their slim top four hopes would be over. It’ll also be a pretty underwhelming end to Roberto Firmino and James Milner’s Reds careers. Big half ahead. Time will tell if either have one final moment of magic.

There’s every chance of this being a bit of a damp squib.

Villa have been pretty basic in their approach but it has worked, and Liverpool haven’t helped themselves with some slapdash passing, lack of energy tracking back at times and not enough imagination when on the ball.

Klopp, who spent the last part of the half stood at the back of the first tier of the Main Stand watching on, will not be happy. He could make changes, but a tactical tweak or two is required before any personnel.

It’s been a really, really poor display from the Reds so far. The emotion of the occasion is undoubtedly getting to them a bit.

Oh, and the referee hasn’t had the best of games either. Although the Villa penalty call was correct.

Alisson Becker 7

No chance with the goal and decent stop to deny Ramsey later on. Mopped up well as sweeper keeper.

Trent Alexander-Arnold 6

Unable to affect the game from a central area first half and had to defend Villa breaks.

Ibrahima Konate 5

Gave away a penalty for foul on Watkins and somewhat nervy after that. Booked.

Virgil van Dijk 7

Aerial prowess helped repel a succession of Villa set-pieces and covered Watkins well at one point.

Andy Robertson 6

Plenty to do defensively while deliveries from out wide weren’t always on point.

Fabinho 6

Overworked in midfield first half as Villa looked to press and counter, but stuck to task.

Jordan Henderson 5

Attempts to get Liverpool moving forward thwarted by inconsistent distribution.

Curtis Jones 5

Started brightly but soon became bogged down and started to lose the ball more often.

Mohamed Salah 5

Isolated for large parts of the first half and had to work hard to get involved.

Cody Gakpo 6

Caught by a high boot from Mings, and looked to provide some focal point either by dropping deep or running in behind.

Luis Diaz 5

Occasional flashes aside, too often ran down blind alleys or into Villa players.

Jacob Ramsey’s goal is the difference in a disappointing half for the Reds.

Some debate over Tyrone Mings’ yellow card for a high challenge on Cody Gakpo but VAR didn’t overrule the original decision.

Henderson goes down but nothing given after a check.

There’s a check for the high boot from Tyrone Mings but nothing given.

Five minutes to be added on at the end of this first half. Meanwhile Mings is booked for a high boot on Gakpo. Dangerous that one.

All the noise of a restless home crowd will be music to the ears of Villa as we approach the end of this frustrating first half here.

Alisson with a big palm to deny Ramsey who had made a run from deep before a free-kick was rolled into his path.

Villa’s time-wasting has been pretty embarrassing so far. Winning 1-0, suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. Especially when they are getting everyone back behind the ball when out of possession.

As things stand, with Liverpool losing and Man Utd winning, the Reds’ slim Champions League qualification hopes will be officially over.

Anfield is very techy here. Frustration is palpable throughout the stands as play is brought to a halt so Villa can get the physios on

That final ball is lacking for Liverpool. Alexander-Arnold has overhit a through-ball to Salah, then crossed straight to Martinez in quick-succession, with Gakpo and Salah also having crosses blocked when in good positions. Been that sort of half so far from the Reds

Has the occasion if it all today got to Liverpool? They’ve been nowhere near good enough in this opening half an hour. Gakpo and Salah have barely had a kick.

Aston Villa have the lead through Jacob Ramsey who meets a cross from Douglas Luiz at the back post before finishing with his left foot.

Klopp isn’t banned from the dressing room and that’s just as well as this Liverpool performance needs a lot of work. They really haven’t been good at all.

Fair to say John Brooks is irritating the Anfield faithful today. First the penalty (which was a penalty for me) and now he’s just waved play on after Cash brought down Diaz as the last man. Diaz had got away from the Poland international but Brooks saw it as a shoulder to shoulder challenge. Anfield was loud in its disapproval.

That missed penalty has woken up at Anfield, as does some Martinez time-wasting at the other end moments later. Liverpool can’t rely on Firmino’s expected second half entrance for some atmosphere today.

Ollie Watkins puts the penalty wide!

That is a penalty for me! Aston Villa have a spot kick as Ibrahima Konate brings down Ollie Watkins. It was a simple clip over the top from McGinn that has caught the Reds out. Penalty to the visitors. Watkins to take.

Ibrahima Konate fouls Ollie Watkins.

Liverpool certainly haven’t got going at all yet. As Gorsty says, this has a real end of season feel to it. Klopp won’t be hugely impressed by that. He’s obviously not on the touchline so we can’t exactly tell what he’s thinking.

Fair to say this game is yet to catch fire. Very much an end-of-season carnival-type feel to it in the sunshine. No real chances for either side after 14 minutes played.

Manchester United going ahead at Bournemouth does underline why finishing top four has been very unlikely for some time for Liverpool. This is a day for the Reds now to enjoy primarily.

Wonderful minute’s applause in tribute to Dan Kay there on the Kop.

Sporting director Julian Ward has just taken his seat behind us next to Sir Kenny Dalglish. The great and the good. A big summer for one of those, you suspect.

The game gets underway and Si Senor has its first airing of the match. Expect it to be sung just the 12,000 times this afternoon. Maybe more.

An early rendition of Si Senor from the Kop after the teams were read out. Plenty of banners on the Kop for Firmino and Milner, as well as one for our much-missed former colleague, Dan Kay.

Two goals today will see Liverpool bring up 100 goals for the campaign for the fifth time in six seasons and Mohamed Salah is aiming to extend his own club record to 10 successive Anfield games he has scored in. He will reach 20 Premier League goals should he achieve that today.

A word for Milner.

Apart from Firmino, no other player has featured more times under Klopp.

And what’s more, go back through all of Liverpool’s major finals in that time – there are a lot – and the veteran has appeared in every single one of them.

Nobody else can claim that. What a player. What a man. What a big miss he is going to be for this Liverpool squad.

Roberto Firmino is going through his pre-match warm-up rondos in front of us here as his song is played over the system. I’d have started him today! Give him the captain’s armband too. I don’t think many here today are ready to say goodbye to him. It promises to be a special send-off.