MATCH PREVIEW: Aston Villa V Liverpool


Liverpool travel to the Midlands on Saturday as they prepare to face a struggling Aston Villa side. Paul Lambert's team are currently 13th in the table on 22 points. With the return of Raheem Sterling after a club sanctioned holiday this week, Brendan will be hoping his star man can steer his side to victory at Villa Park.

Injuries for Liverpool mean there are doubts hanging over both Adam Lallana and Steven Gerrard. Joe Allen and Glen Johnson are also still out along with Daniel Sturridge, the forward however returned to training this week and it is hoped he will be back relatively soon.

For Aston Villa they are unable to call upon Ciran Clark who is serving a ban. Also unavailable are Vlaar and Senderos whilst Joe Cole will be subject to a late fitness test.

Aston Villa have failed to win a league game in their last six fixtures. They last picked up three points against Leicester back in early December after a 2-1 win. Liverpool find themselves in 8th having won three out of their last six league fixtures. The Reds last lost a game at the hands of Manchester United, conceding three goals and failing to score.

The last time the two sides met was in September last year. Liverpool lost the game 1-0 after an Agbonlahor goal just nine minutes into the match. The Reds last visit to Villa Park ended in a reverse scoreline as Daniel Sturridge scored the only goal in that game.

Overall Liverpool have a good record against the Midlands side and with Villa failing to find the back of the net in their last four games you have to feel Liverpool will have this game wrapped up. However it's not as simple as that with Liverpool is it? It's usually teams we should beat that absolutely embarass us. I'm still a bit sceptical after the Sunderland result because despite the fact that it's always nice to grind out a win we lacked a clinical finish. There were positives from the game but with our unpredictable defence too we play in a dangerous manner at the moment, here's hoping for an improved performance on Saturday.

Stat Sandwich
  • Liverpool have not drawn an away league game so far this season.
  • Villa have averaged a point per game in their last 63 fixtures in the Premier League at home.
  • Gerrard has scored 12 goals against Aston Villa in his career.

I asked you for your score predictions and here are a few of the tweets I received:
As always, I would like to see Balotelli start tomorrow but, as always, he probably won't. I'm pleased that Sterling will be returning and can see him scoring on Saturday. If I was to pop a quid on the game I'd go for a 1-0.

Enjoy the match folks, wherever you are watching!