Liverpool will be eager to bounce back to winning ways and keep their title hopes alive when they take on Aston Villa at Villa Park on Tuesday.
The elongated Gameweek 36 of the 2021/22 Premier League season continues this midweek, with several teams playing their rescheduled games. Aston Villa and Liverpool will face off in the only match-up on Tuesday, with the two teams scheduled to clash at Villa Park.
Aston Villa could end the season strongly after stuttering in the last few months. A run of four straight defeats between March and April threatened to end all the feel-good effect around Steven Gerrard. But the Liverpool legend has overseen a recent three-game unbeaten run, reigniting the Villans’ bid to finish in the top half, with Crystal Palace only a point clear in tenth.
On the other hand, Liverpool will come into Tuesday’s game on the back of a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur that has handed them a blow in the Premier League title race. The Reds have fallen three points behind Manchester City following the defending champions’ big win over Newcastle United on Sunday. With the quadruple dream fading, Jurgen Klopp will want his charges to be at their best in the remaining games.
The reverse fixture ended in a 1-0 win for Liverpool, with Mohamed Salah scoring the game’s only goal midway through the second half. Ahead of the latest meeting between the two sides, The Hard Tackle takes a closer look at the encounter.
Team News & Tactics
Aston Villa
The boss starts with team news…
“JJ won’t make it, he’s got a decent chance for the weekend. I’m sure he would have been desperate to challenge himself against Liverpool.
“The squad will be very similar to what it was at Burnley.”#AVLLIV pic.twitter.com/3YvB3HcyTp
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) May 9, 2022
Steven Gerrard does not have any new injury concerns hampering his preparations ahead of the visit of Liverpool. On Tuesday, the Aston Villa manager will be bereft of the services of three first-team players.
Kortney Hause is recovering from an abdominal issue that will leave him on the sidelines for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, Jacob Ramsey is out due to a groin issue, while Leon Bailey is battling to overcome the effects of an ankle problem.
The game will be the first instance that Philippe Coutinho will feature against former club Liverpool since returning to England by joining Aston Villa. But the Brazilian playmaker could miss out on a berth in the starting eleven after Emiliano Buendia’s exploits against Burnley.
Buendia will play behind the two strikers, with the Argentine playmaker looking to carve open the Liverpool defence. Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins will form the strike partnership, leaving Coutinho as an option off the bench for Gerrard.
As for the midfield unit, the solid trifecta of John McGinn, Calum Chambers and Douglas Luiz, with the trio attempting to remain compact in the middle of the park. Lucas Digne has made a solid comeback since recovering from an injury, and the Frenchman will join Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, and Matty Cash in the backline, with Emiliano Martinez picking himself in the Aston Villa goal.
Probable Lineup (4-3-1-2): Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Chambers, Luiz; Buendia; Ings, Watkins
Liverpool
Like his counterpart in the Aston Villa dugout, Jurgen Klopp does not have any new roster issues to contend with ahead of the trip to Villa Park. The Liverpool manager will be without just one first-team player in the worst-case scenario.
Roberto Firmino faces a late fitness test to determine his availability to take on Aston Villa. But the Brazilian international will unlikely start on Tuesday, with Klopp expected to ease him back into the thick of the action.
Watch Jürgen Klopp's press conference LIVE as he previews #AVLLIV ? https://t.co/CI3kqKy8Zy
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) May 9, 2022
Klopp will have one eye on this coming weekend’s FA Cup final, and the Liverpool manager should make a few alterations to his side. Mohamed Salah will keep his spot on the right-wing, but Sadio Mane could drop to the bench, with Diogo Jota spearheading the Liverpool attack against Aston Villa.
Meanwhile, the midfield will likely see one change, with Jordan Henderson dropping to the bench to preserve energy for the FA Cup final. Naby Keita should replace the Liverpool captain in the Liverpool midfield, with Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara completing the midfield unit.
The defensive unit could see wholesale changes, leaving Virgil van Dijk as the only player keeping his spot. Joel Matip will pair up with van Dijk at the heart of the Liverpool defence, with Joe Gomez and Kostas Tsimikas coming in as the full-backs in place of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson. Alisson Becker will be stationed between the sticks for Liverpool.
Probable Lineup (4-3-3): Alisson; Gomez, Matip, van Dijk, Tsimikas; Keita, Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Jota, Diaz
Key Stats
- Aston Villa won this exact fixture 7-2 last term. They have not beaten Liverpool in successive home league games since February 1998. The Reds have won seven of their most recent eight Premier League meetings with Aston Villa, with the 7-2 loss at Villa Park last season being the exception.
- Liverpool have scored 41 away Premier League goals this season, failing to score in only one game on the road (0-1 vs Leicester City). The Reds have only netted more away league goals in two seasons: 42 in 1946/47 (won the top-flight) and 48 in 2013/14 (finished 2nd in Premier League).
- Aston Villa have won their last two Premier League matches and are looking to win three in a row for only the third time in their most recent nine top-flight campaigns. Those two runs have come in the last two seasons, a four-game streak in September/October 2020 and a three-game run in February/March this year.
- Liverpool have not dropped a single point against sides starting the day in the bottom-half of the table this season, winning all 18 such games by an aggregate score of 52-4. No team in Premier League history has ever won 100% of their games against bottom half sides in a single campaign, with Liverpool’s 18 wins the joint-most along with Manchester United in 2006/07.
- Ollie Watkins has scored more Premier League goals against Liverpool than he has any other side (four), netting a hat-trick in this exact fixture last season.
Player to Watch
Mohamed Salah
Every available Liverpool attacker has given a good account of himself in the past month. But one player who has seemed out of sorts is Mohamed Salah, with the Egyptian wing wizard nowhere near his best since suffering heartbreak in the most recent international break.
Salah has shown flashes of brilliance, but inconsistent performances have enabled Son Heug-min to close in on him in the Golden Boot race. With just three games left in the season, it is now or never for Salah to regain his best form and somehow inspire Liverpool to reclaim the Premier League title while clinching the Golden Boot crown.
Prediction
Aston Villa 1-3 Liverpool
The game will feature two teams that have made it a habit to produce their best performances in an away setting in their meetings. And Tuesday might not be any different, with Liverpool desperate to take all three points from the match after playing out a frustrating draw with Aston Villa.
The Reds should pounce on the vulnerabilities of Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa, with Mohamed Salah finally coming to the party. But Aston Villa will threaten on the opposite end, with Ollie Watkins set to continue his brilliant run of form. However, Liverpool will have more than enough quality to ease to a 3-1 win over Aston Villa.