Match Preview - Aston Villa vs Liverpool - Key Battle, Team News, Prediction

Aston Villa will welcome Liverpool to Villa Park tomorrow night. The Premier League fixture will kick-off at 8:00pm BST.

Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa go into the match having defeated Burnley 3-1 at Turf Moor last Saturday.

The Villans sit in 11th-place in the Premier League table, which highlights that they are having a reasonable season.

Liverpool on the other hand drew 1-1 against Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield last weekend. With three top-flight games to go, Jurgen Klopp's side are now three points behind league leaders Manchester City.

Therefore, the title is a tough ask for the Reds now. Below is a preview of tomorrow night's clash between Aston Villa and Liverpool.

Key Battle

If Liverpool are to win the game, they can't let Philippe Coutinho (providing he plays as he was dropped to the bench against Burnley) dictate terms. The midfielder is having a decent season.

Since joining Aston Villa on loan from Barcelona back in January, Coutinho has scored four goals and registered three assists in 15 appearances.

But, Klopp and his team already know how good the Brazil international is. It was not that long ago (2018) Coutinho played under the German at Anfield.

Klopp was always complimentary towards the magician.

"Of course with Phil's skills, everyone wants to give him the ball and wait for something special to happen," the 54-year-old told the Liverpool Echo back in 2016, as quoted by Goal.

"Then you think 'oh no, don't shoot again'. But if I could shoot like he could shoot then I would try it all the time.

"I'd get up in the morning and just shoot the f***ing ball around in the garden or something. It's outstanding how good he is."

So, if Liverpool can stop the 29-year-old, they will give themselves a better chance of winning the match.

Team News

Aston Villa have no new injury problems that have popped up over the weekend.

In team news for Liverpool, Klopp has confirmed that Roberto Firmino is close to making a return. The striker has missed the club's last six fixtures due to a foot injury.

However, Klopp is hopeful that Firmino, who has returned to training, will be able to feature against Aston Villa.

Previous Premier League Meeting

Liverpool defeated Aston Villa 1-0 back in December 2021. It took a Mohamed Salah spot kick to separate the two sides.

Tyrone Mings brought the Egyptian international down in the box with just over 20 minutes remaining. Salah then launched the ball into the back of the net.

Klopp was pleased with how Liverpool played for the majority of the clash.

As quoted by the club's official website, the German said the following during his post-match press conference: "I think we were the better team; for 75 minutes, for sure, and opened up the game in the last 15 minutes because we lost rhythm a little bit, we changed offensively and all of a sudden there were some situations, half-chances, situations that were a little bit tricky.

"But for 75 minutes we were the clear better side. I don’t know exactly what that says about Villa now because I’m not so much in that.

"My job today was to make sure that we caused Villa a lot of problems and I think we did that over 75 minutes with the way we played.

"We could have been better around the last pass, our decision-making there could have been better. One or two more bodies in the box in one or two moments would have been helpful. But that’s it."

Prediction

Aston Villa have some decent players (Douglas Luiz, John McGinn, Danny Ings, Ollie Watkins, Coutinho etc).

So, Liverpool should not be expecting an easy game against Gerrard's side.

But, we do think that the Reds should bounce back after a disappointing result against Tottenham. Liverpool have always been resilient under Klopp.

Aston Villa 1 Liverpool 2