Battle at Villa Park: Can Aston Villa Hold Their Ground Against Liverpool's Might?

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• May 10, 2024 • 9 months ago

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Aston Villa will hope to secure Champions League football for the first time by defeating Liverpool at Villa Park

Aston Villa prepare to host Liverpool at Villa Park in the Premier league this weekend. Liverpool comfortably won the reverse fixture at Anfield 3-0 with goals from Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and an own goal from Aston Villa defender Matty Cash.

Salah celebrating with team mate Curtis Jones after scoring a goal.

Aston Villa are currently in fourth position in the league after playing 36 games. They have won 20 games, drawn 7 games and lost 9 games leaving them with 67 points. This is already Aston Villa's best season since the 1992-93 campaign when they finished in second place with 74 points. Aston Villa are seven points above Tottenham Hotspur who are still capable contenders for Champions League qualification next season. Aston Villa could secure Champions league football for the first time ever if they win their match against Liverpool. Aston Villa may even qualify for the Champions league before they play Liverpool should Tottenham Hotspur lose to Burnley.

Aston Villa missed out on the UEFA Conference league final after they lost in Greece to Olympiacos and failed to turn around their first-leg deficit. Despite that loss, it has been an excellent season for Unai Emery and Aston Villa. Olie Watkins is one of the main reasons for Aston Villa's amazing results this season with the forward scoring 19 premier league goals so far this season. Should he score against Liverpool, he’ll reach 20 Premier League goals in 2023-24. The last Aston Villa player to score 20+ in a top-flight campaign was Peter Withe in 1980-81 campaign where he scored 20 goals.

This will be Jurgen Klopp's last Premier league away game as the Liverpool manager. Klopp hasn’t lost any of his last nine games against Villa boss Emery in all competitions. The Liverpool manager has won 6 out of the 9 matches and drawn 3 matches. His first ever loss against Unai Emery came in the UEFA Europa League final of 2016 when Emery was still the manager of Sevilla.

Aston Villa have only won one of their last 12 matches against Liverpool, losing 10 games and drawing 1 game. The single win Aston Villa recorded was a fantastic 7-2 victory in October 2020 behind closed doors at Villa Park.