CONFIRMED Liverpool lineup vs Aston Villa: Star BACK in, midfielder DROPPED, HUGE Diaz decision

Liverpool host Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday evening. Arne Slot’s side hope to continue their magnificent run of form.

Liverpool go into this one on the back of a 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen. It was arguably the Reds’ best performance of the season so far.

Aston Villa, in contrast, lost 1-0 to Club Brugge in their UEFA Champions League fixture. They’ve also had one day less rest than their hosts.

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In other words, Liverpool are massive favourites here. So what will Arne Slot do?

Here’s the confirmed lineup for Liverpool vs Aston Villa at Anfield.

Tsimikas vs Robertson

This is one of the most interesting battles at Liverpool right now. Kostas Tsimikas appears to have usurped his senior teammate in the XI after a long, long wait.

He was the pick in Slot’s team against Leverkusen and it feels as though the spot could be his to lose right now. But Slot has opted to select Robertson this time.

The midfield battle

This battle is very much ongoing. At this point Ryan Gravenberch is the only certainty in midfield, with the other two spots up for grabs.

Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai are available for them. The Argentine is there for the deeper midfield role, while the Hungarian can play the no.10.

But Jones’s ability to play both makes him a threat to each. His form means he deserves the start. Villa’s physical midfield calls for him, too - the Gravenberch/Jones partnership is one that can dominate and that is what Slot has gone with meanwhile Mac Allister comes in as the third midfield option.

Szoboszlai remains on the bench.

Diaz changed everything

There’s a lot of reasons to bring Darwin Nunez back into the XI for this. He’s fresh, after all, having started the Leverkusen clash on the bench.

Luis Diaz scored a hattrick, Gakpo got one himself, and Salah supplied a goal for each. It feels harsh to drop Gakpo however he misses out on this occasion.

That decision in particular is huge, with the Colombian now seemingly first choice after his heroics.

(4-2-1-3): Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Jones; Mac Allister; Salah, Diaz, Nunez

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