Aston Villa look to wrap up a Premier League top-four finish against Liverpool at Villa Park.
Victory would see Villa secure fourth place whilst Liverpool are guaranteed to finish third regardless of the result.
Team News
Alex Moreno is a doubt for Villa after he missed their Europa Conference League exit away to Olympiacos with a knock.
Nicolo Zaniolo (knock) and Youri Tielemans (groin) are set to be available for selection, subject to late fitness checks.
Jacob Ramsey (toe), Morgan Rogers (hamstring), Tyrone Mings, Boubacar Kamara (both knee) and Emiliano Buendia (ACL) remain ruled out.
Liverpool could welcome forward, Diogo Jota back from a muscle injury.
Ben Doak (knee), Joel Matip (ACL) and Thiago Alcantara (muscle) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Liverpool at Villa Park on Monday 13 May at 8pm BST, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Villa are winless in their last five league meetings against Liverpool (D1, L5).
- Liverpool have won eight of their last nine league visits to Villa (W8, L1).
- Both Liverpool and Villa have scored in three of their last four league meetings.
- Coming into this matchweek, no player has created more assists this season in the top-flight than Villa’s Ollie Watkins (15).
- 14 of Mohamed Salah’s 18 league goals for Liverpool this season were scored on the Egyptian’s left foot.
Prediction
After two rare consecutive losses in all competitions with wasteful defeats at Brighton and Olympiacos, Villa now need to just hit the reset button and come out with the quality energetic attacking fight that we’ve seen this season.
Unai Emery however could do with setting his team up with a more low defensive line because this is not a game where they can afford to be risky with their high line play, despite having the top-four spot in their own hands if it goes to the final day.
Liverpool meanwhile absolutely dominated Tottenham last weekend at Anfield with a more clinical all-round performance, but they did switch off twice defensively once 4-0 up which isn’t ideal yet it showed that their defence can still be breached even when in control result wise.
Focusing upon this game, I can see Villa facing a tough battle defensively against Liverpool’s energetic attack but if they can find their clinical edge and not implode at the back, I can see them nicking something here.
Prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Liverpool
Result: Aston Villa 3-3 Liverpool
Leave a Reply