Fixtures
- Liverpool Vs. Aston Villa – Sat, Nov 9th 2024, 20:00
Aston Villa make the trip north to Merseyside this evening, taking on Liverpool in Premier League action (ko 8pm).
Unai Emery’s side will be looking to return to winning ways at Anfield, having suffered a first league defeat in eight games against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend.
Arne Slot’s Reds enter the clash top of the Premier League table, having dropped just five points from their opening 10 matches of the top flight campaign.
They are currently 12 matches unbeaten in all competitions, having drawn just one of these games.
Stats
Only Erling Haaland (16) has had more big chances than Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins in the Premier League this season (14).
No player has been involved in more Premier League goals so far this season than Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (12: 7 goals, 5 assists). The Egyptian has also had the most touches in the opposition box this term (96), while of players to have had 20+ shots, no one has hit a higher percentage of them on target (67%: 20/30).
Liverpool’s Arne Slot has become just the fifth manager to win as many as eight of his first 10 Premier League games in charge, after John Gregory (1998), Guus Hiddink (2009), Carlo Ancelotti (2009) and Ange Postecoglou (2023). Of the other four, only Postecoglou failed to win his 11th match in the competition.
No team has scored more Premier League goals this season from either crosses (6) or set-piece situations (5, excluding penalties) than Aston Villa (level with Arsenal in both cases).
Only Manchester City (32) have faced fewer shots on target than Liverpool in the Premier League this season (34), with the Reds also conceding the fewest goals (6) and having the lowest xG against figure this term (8.1).
Both of Aston Villa’s Premier League defeats this season have come against the two north London sides, losing 4-1 against Tottenham last time out. The Villans last lost consecutive league games in May 2023.
Liverpool have conceded the first goal in their last two Premier League games, but avoided defeat in both (2-2 v Arsenal, 2-1 v Brighton). Indeed, their win against Brighton was the 100th time they’ve come from behind to win a Premier League match, the third team to reach this milestone in the competition.
Aston Villa have lost 16 of their last 18 Premier League away games against sides starting the day top of the table (D2), including each of the last nine in a row. Indeed, they’ve only won one of their 23 such games, beating Leeds United 2-1 at Elland Road in January 2000.
Only Manchester United (12) and Chelsea (7) have won more Premier League away games against Liverpool than Aston Villa (6, level with Arsenal).
Having won just one of their six Premier League home games against Aston Villa between 2009 and 2014 (D2 L3), Liverpool have now won five of their last six at Anfield against the Villans (D1).
The Last Meeting
The last meeting between the two sides was was a memorable 3-3 draw at Villa Park towards the end of last season, as Jhon Durán’s late double sealed a dramatic comeback and all but guaranteed Villa’s spot in the 2024/25 Champions League.
Liverpool took the lead inside two minutes as a Harvey Elliott cross deflected off Pau Torres and wrong-footed Emi Martínez, but Emery’s side quickly responded 10 minutes later through a sublime Youri Tielemans strike.
Goals either side of the break from Cody Gakpo and Jarell Quansah saw the Reds race into a 3-1 advantage, but two Durán strikes in the final five minutes snatched a share of the spoils for the Lions, whose place in the top four was confirmed the following evening when Spurs lost to Manchester City.
Team News
Unai Emery hopes Youri Tielemans will be fit to play, after revealing he was carrying a “small pain” in his pre-match press conference, hence his precautionary ommission from the Belgium national team squad.
Ross Barkley remains sidelined until after the international break, while Matty Cash is Villa’s only other doubt, after missing the midweek trip to Club Brugge in the Champions League.
Arne Slot is still without long-term injury absentees Harvey Elliott (foot), Federico Chiesa (fitness) and Alisson Becker (thigh) for the clash.
The Liverpool boss also confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Friday morning that Diogo Jota is still sidelined with an injury sustained against Chelsea last month, and is set to return to action “one or two weeks” after the international break.
Managers’ Pre-Match Thoughts
“Liverpool is very difficult. They are completely favourites now to beat us and to win the Premier League this season, in front of [Manchester] City and Arsenal, as they started very well. We are very motivated and excited. It is an amazing match we are going to play. They are playing very, very well. It is a huge challenge for us to stop them and to play with our personality. We have to compete.” – Unai Emery
“If you ask me now, I say it is not that difficult [to form gameplan]. [Unai] Emery has almost the same formation, but sometimes depend on the players. His style of play, his idea, is always the same. Most managers think we have a good team so they change gameplan. I don’t expect Unai to change a lot, but in terms of personnel, he can change a bit.” – Arne Slot
