Aston Villa vs Liverpool: Preview and Prediction

Saturday 2nd November 2019

England Premier League
Saturday 2nd November 2019
Kick off at 3pm GMT
Venue: Villa Park

Match Preview:

Aston Villa could rightly be bemoaning their fixture luck at having to play Liverpool just after they lost to Manchester City last weekend but at least there was some good news for Dean Smith’s side in midweek. Villa are into the quarter finals of the Carabao Cup after beating Wolves 2-1 and that will hopefully give the club the shot in the arm they need ahead of this game.

Villa are in 15^th place but were on decent form before the City loss where they had gone their last 3 games unbeaten which had included a 5-1 win over Norwich and victory over Brighton. This is of course a massive step up for the club and they will be the underdogs to get anything from this game.

Liverpool have a six point lead at the top after coming from behind to beat Tottenham 2-1 last weekend. It was a slow start from Jurgen Klopp’s team but they battled back into the game and showed a fighting spirit that only the really top clubs possess. In midweek after wholesale changes to the team Liverpool knocked out Arsenal in the Carabao Cup but what a game it was ending 5-5 with the Reds winning on penalties. That victory will be infectious though and will spread unity and a winning attitude throughout the club, and of course the bonus was that Klopp was able to rest the majority of his players for this game.

The bad news for Villa is that Liverpool have the best away record in the league with 4 wins and one draw. They have also conceded the least amount of goals on the road with just 3 so far.

Team News:

Aston Villa: Keinan Davies will be assessed as he pulled his hamstring in midweek. Jack Grealish has a minor calf injury and should be available for this game. Jota has a hernia and is not due back until the end of the month

Liverpool: Joel Matip has a delay to his knee injury recovery and looks to be long term. Virgil van Dijk has a dead leg but should be fine to be included in the squad

Aston Villa vs Liverpool Head to Head:

The last time the teams played at Villa Park was in 2016 where Liverpool ran out 6-0 winners.

Liverpool have won 3 from the last 4 meetings.

Aston Villa’s last victory at home against Liverpool was in 2011.

Aston Villa vs Liverpool Prediction:

Liverpool are still unbeaten and if they are to lose this season one would suspect it would be away from home. A brave person might want to say it will be this game, but we doubt it very much. Liverpool have not been brilliant over the past few weeks, though showed a good 2^nd half dominance over Tottenham and the players were able to have a week’s rest to get ready for this match. Liverpool do need to step up because penalties/VAR seem to be saving the day for them, but we expect they will walk away with all three points. So far Villa have pulled out some decent results but really struggle against quality teams and we can’t see them getting anything from this one.

Aston Villa vs Liverpool Betting Tips:

Liverpool to be winning at half time at 1.80

Anytime goalscorer: Sadio Mane at 1.72