Ezri Konsa urges Aston Villa response as Liverpool loom

The trip to Anfield comes at the end of a tough fortnight which has seen Unai Emery’s team concede a late equaliser to Bournemouth and then lose their next three matches, the latest being Wednesday’s first Champions League defeat in Belgium.

It is only the second time Villa have lost three straight games since Emery took charge two years ago, matching their worst ever run under the Spaniard.

But Konsa, who was yesterday called up to the England squad alongside team-mate Ollie Watkins, says there is no time to dwell on the disappointment.

“It’s part of football,” he said. “You win some, you lose some, and unfortunately Wednesday wasn’t our night.

“It’s our first loss in the Champions League, and we have to move on from it quickly.

“We’ve got another game on Saturday so we can’t be too down about it.

“In football, games come thick and fast. We have to move on from this and focus on our next game.”

Konsa claimed not to have seen the farcical error by Tyrone Mings which saw Villa beaten in Brugge. The centre-back conceded a penalty when he picked up the ball after Emi Martinez had passed it to him, not appearing to realise play was live.

Mings had been booked earlier in the match and Konsa queried: “If the referee thinks it’s a deliberate handball then he needs a second yellow, he’s on a yellow already so why not send him off for that then? 

“It killed the game. It’s a mistake, it’s not a mistake we want to make but nothing we can do, we’ve got to move on from it.”