MATCH PREVIEW: Liverpool V Aston Villa

Image via telegraph.co.uk
As the plot continues to thicken around the managerial future of Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool simply have to collect all three points in order to take some pressure off the boss and in order to get themselves moving in the right direction in the league.

The Reds have picked up some additions to their injury list recently after Roberto Firmino and Dejan Lovren both came off during the League Cup clash with Carlisle. Also unavailable is Christian Benteke who is nursing a hamstring problem.

For Aston Villa, they have suffered a blow after Agbonlahor picked up an injury against Birmingham. Also potentially unavailable is Adama Traore who may not make the start and a doubt hangs over the fitness of Idrissa Gana.

The last time the two sides met was in the FA Cup semi-final last year. I was so annoyed at the end of this game and I still can't ever support a decision to bring on Glen Johnson when you're 2-1 down in a semi-final?! Villa of course won the game and Christian Benteke was on the scoresheet for the Midlanders that day.

In the league at Anfield, Aston Villa's record never used to be something to shout about but their last four trips to L4 have been favourable. With two wins and two draws over this time period, manager Tim Sherwood will surely fancy his chances against an already faltering Liverpool side.

Brendan Rodgers certainly isn't in denial when it comes to his position as boss and in his press conference he was quoted as saying: "I don't shy away from the fact that you need to get results and be performing well to try and stay and work".

His team selection should therefore reflect a manager who is desperate to pull out all the stops to win on Saturday and I truly hope he plays two up top utilising both Daniel Sturridge and Danny Ings, the latter of whom has certainly earnt a place.

Stat Sandwich

  • The Reds have hit the post or the bar on five occasions so far this season, more than any other side.
  • Aston Villa have lost 16 league games in 2015, no side has lost more.
  • The last time Liverpool had a tally of just four goals after six league matches was in 2005-2006.

I didn't get chance to ask you for your score predictions for this one apologies! Feel free to drop me a tweet though with your thoughts as I always enjoy reading them. I'm not sure if I'm going to be having any bets tomorrow but I'll tweet them if I do.

Finally if you could take two seconds to tweet the bold sentence below, I'd really appreciate it as there's only three days left of nomination voting and I'd love to make the shortlist! 

"I am voting for @LFCKirstyLFC in @TheFBAs as best #Established blog"

Enjoy the match folks, wherever you are watching!