Aston Villa and Liverpool face off on Monday in an English Premier League showdown at Villa Park. When these two teams faced off on May 10th it was Liverpool that secured the 2-1 victory.
Liverpool comes into this game sitting 6th place in the standings having picked up 22 points. Liverpool faced off against Manchester City in the EFL Cup on Thursday, and they were defeated 3-2. Fabio Carvalho scored in the 20th minute and Mohamed Salah scored another goal in the 48th minute. Ibrahima Konate played for France in the World Cup, and he won’t be available to play here. Liverpool has dealt with key injuries all season, and it doesn’t seem to be changing in this game. James Milner and Roberto Firmino are both dealing with injuries and will be out the next couple of games. In this game, Liverpool needs to be the team that controls the pressure and pace of the game.
On the other side of this matchup is Aston Villa, who sits in 12th place in the standings having picked up 18 points. On December 15th against Villareal, Aston Villa failed to score and that led to the 1-0 defeat. On December 11th they faced off against Chelsea, and they were able to win that game 1-0. Aston Villa will be without Emiliano Martínez, who is still working his way back to the team after winning the World Cup with Argentina. Diego Carlos and Jacob Ramsey are both still hurt heading into this game and won’t be available to play here.
Not having their starting goalie is a big issue against an offense with as much talent as Liverpool. If Martinez was in goal it might be a different story, but without him, I think they really struggled here. Look for Liverpool to find the back of the net at least twice and get the job done. Back Liverpool -1.5.
