Aston Villa Qualify for Champions League, Liverpool's Spot Uncertain After 4-2 Loss

Aston Villa secured qualification for next season's Champions League with a 4-2 win over Liverpool at Villa Park on Friday, which left the Merseyside club's place in Europe's premier competition still in doubt.

A second-half brace from Ollie Watkins , sandwiched between goals from Morgan Rogers and John McGinn , means fourth-place Villa are guaranteed one of the Premier League 's five spots in the Champions League.

Fifth-place Liverpool, meanwhile, are still looking over their shoulder going into their final game of the season next weekend.

Bournemouth trail last year's champions by four points, with Brighton a further two points back. Both clubs, though, have two games still to play.

Villa had the luxury of knowing that they had an extra chance to make it back to the Champions League, with the Europa League final against Freiburg upcoming on Wednesday.

But Unai Emery's side will now be able to head to Istanbul fully focused on the chance to win a first major trophy in 30 years.

It continues a golden period of success under Emery, who two seasons ago led Villa to Europe's top competition for the first time in 41 years.

Liverpool had the better of the opening exchanges on Friday with Cody Gakpo seeing a goal ruled out for offside and Emiliano Martínez pushing away a swerving long-range effort from Dominik Szoboszlai .

However, Villa found its composure as the half went on and took the lead three minutes before halftime. Rogers placed a perfect right-foot shot beyond the reach of Giorgi Mamardashvili after a well-worked corner kick.

Virgil van Dijk's header eight minutes into the second half brought Liverpool level but Villa started to dominate as the game opened up.

Watkins had a goal chalked off for offside but made up for it just a few minutes later when he took advantage of a slip by Szoboszlai that set Villa free on the counterattack.

He added a third in the 73rd when he side-footed home from point-blank range after Mamardashvili made two excellent stops.

It was Watkins' sixth goal in his last seven league games and he was a constant threat to a Liverpool rearguard that looked shaky every time Villa stormed forward.

Emiliano Buendía had a long-range effort smack the bar -- Rio Ngumoha did the same for Liverpool at the other end -- then McGinn added the fourth two minutes from time with a superbly placed shot into the far corner.

Van Dijk made it 4-2 in stoppage time with a header but it was scant consolation for a Liverpool team that looked tired and sluggish.

Its last game of the season is at Brentford on May 24, while Villa takes on Manchester City at Etihad Stadium on the same day.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

_Originally reported by [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/48780677/aston-villa-champions-league-place-liverpool-premier-league)._