Unai Emery says Aston Villa were denied a “clear penalty” in the team’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool. Villa had two penalty appeals waved away by referee David Coote with Emery insisting Pau Torres’ shirt was tugged by defender Conor Bradley in the second half.

As Unai Emery saw his team slump to a fourth consecutive defeat at Anfield, lines from “Casablanca” were presumably not in the forefront of his thoughts, even if his season is rapidly in danger of being remembered by the slogan “We’ll always have Bayern.

The international break comes at a welcome time for Aston Villa as they look to regroup and put right their poor run of recent form. They are having to manage playing in Europe as well as sustaining a fight at the top end of the Premier League and this is proving a real test of Unai Emery's managerial credentials.