Mohamed Salah did not go to the World Cup and Trent Alexander-Arnold might as well not have bothered.
Half an hour against a beaten Wales was the sum total of Alexander-Arnold's Qatari exertions, such is Gareth Southgate's slightly bizarre blind spot when it comes to the international career of a player regarded as world-class by Jurgen Klopp and other fine judges.
But at least Alexander-Arnold got a four-week sunshine holiday, with a little bit of light training to keep him ticking over. He came into this match almost as rested as Salah, whose Egypt did not qualify for Qatar 2022.
And Alexander-Arnold's passing masterclass was one of the key factors in a win that, from Klopp's point of view, would have been refreshingly routine. Salah's brilliance was certainly routine, Salah's brilliance is actually taken for granted.
The early breakthrough at Villa Park was actually a tap-in after fantasy passes from Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson but his awareness and the timing of his runs are things to behold.
Salah's role in Liverpool's second before half-time was typical of his endeavour, keeping an Alexander-Arnold corner-kick alive and then cleverly laying off a shooting chance, which Virgil van Dijk took with the help of an Ezri Konsa deflection.
There is a perception in some quarters that Salah's form has not been up to his usual standards in the first half of this season but that is as wide of the mark as one or two Darwin Nunez efforts were in this contest.
The only criticism of Salah that might stick is that he can be too blinkered in his pursuit of goals and had he not ignored Alexander-Arnold's 50-yard run early in the second half, Liverpool would not have had the nervous final half-hour, prompted by Ollie Watkins' fine header from an equally fine Douglas Luiz cross.
To be fair to Watkins and Unai Emery's side, though, the Villa goal was hardly ill-deserved. They had created a handful of clearcut openings, all of which they had missed with varying degrees of ineptitude.
Watkins was a guilty party but the main culprit was Leon Bailey who had miss-kicking down to a fine art.
The irony was that Bailey's game, aside from his dreadful finishing, looked in good nick - an observation that could be safely made about Darwin Nunez.
But Nunez ran himself into the ground and was a constant source of danger to the Villa back-line.
And his perseverance and pace were the reasons Liverpool eased any nerves ten minutes before time.
Not for the first time, his speed embarrassed the home defence and when the unimpressive Robin Olsen could only pat the Uruguyan's cross into the danger zone, substitute Stefan Bajcetic showed great composure to put the game beyond Villa's reach.
That was the fifth time a substitute has scored for Liverpool in the Premier League this season and Klopp is proving himself something of a multi-sub specialist.
Unlike Emery, it seems, who only brought on his first replacements after Liverpool's third goal and with only a few minutes of time remaining.
By then, Alexander-Arnold had already been given a breather but Salah was still there, hassling defenders, sniffing out chances.
He might have been hugely disappointed to miss out on a World Cup but that disappointment could well be a lethal Liverpool weapon in the rest of the Premier League season.
