Venue: Villa Park
Record (W-L-D), Points, and Last 5 Results
Liverpool: Record (3-0-0) (9pts) Form – WWWWL
- Leeds United (H): Won 4-3
- Chelsea (A): Won 2-0
- Lincoln City (A): Won 7-2
- Arsenal (H): Won 3-1
- Arsenal (H): Lost 0-0 (Pens)
Aston Villa: Record (2-0-0) (6pts) Form – WWWWL
- Burton (A): Won 3-1
- Sheffield United (H): Won 1-0
- Bristol City (A): Won 3-0
- Fulham (A): Won 3-0
- Stoke (H): Lost 1-0
Possible Absences:
Liverpool:
- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Injury)
- Joel Matip (Injury)
- Kostas Tsimikas (Injury)
- Jordan Henderson (Injury)
- Thiago Alcantara (Coronavirus)
- Sadio Mané (Coronavirus)
Aston Villa:
- Bjorn Engels (Injury)
- Tom Heaton (Injury)
- Wesley (Injury)
- Kourtney House (Injury)
- Orjan Nyland (Injury)
Predicted Starting XI:
Liverpool (4-3-3)
- Alisson Becker
- Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil Van Dijk, Andy Robertson
- Naby Keita, Fabinho, Gini Wijnaldum
- Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota
Aston Villa (4-3-3)
- Emiliano Martinez
- Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Matt Targett
- John McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Connor Hourihane
- Trezeguet, Ollie Watkins, Jack Grealish
Another undefeated matchup takes place on Sunday as Liverpool travel to a revamped Aston Villa side. One team will have to lose their undefeated record at Villa Park, and with a few injuries in Liverpool’s squad, Aston Villa might think they could be the ones to end their oppositions record.
Aston Villa’s starting lineup is starting to pick itself with a couple very strong performances in the league. Emiliano Martinez in particular has shown to be a very shrewd pickup as he’s already made some key saves that pointed Villa in the direction to get all three points. Having such a strong goalkeeper behind your defense is never a bad thing, and Martinez is showing why. Matty Cash and Ollie Watkins have both shown to be good signings so far as well.
Liverpool made three signings themselves this summer but two of the three are out for this game. Thiago Alcantara misses out due to coronavirus and Kostas Tsimikas is still injured from a quad injury in the Lincoln City match. With Sadio Mané also missing out due to coronavirus this most likely means Klopp will go to new signing Diogo Jota to replace him. Jota was impressive in his substitute cameo against Arsenal in the Premier League where he got his first Liverpool goal, and then impressed again in the Arsenal Carabao Cup game where he was given the start. This is the assumed reason Klopp brought a player like Jota in. To bring depth to the front line, and when one of the front three do go down there won’t be as much of a drop off. So far, the signs are good for Jota and what he can bring to this Liverpool side seems pretty apparent.
My Prediction: Aston Villa 0 – 3 Liverpool. Aston Villa have been really good this season, but Liverpool are a different beast when you compare them to the likes of Fulham and Sheffield United who Villa have beaten so far this season. I do think it’s possible Liverpool struggle without Sadio Mané, but the early performances from Jota give me enough confidence in Liverpool’s abilities. And if Liverpool play like they have been, they should come away comfortable winners.
The Possible Absences and Starting XI portions of the article will be updated as necessary up until starting lineups are announced