Preview for Liverpool v Aston Villa
Arne Slot is convinced Liverpool will break out of their current slump due to the quality of the players at his disposal.
The Merseysiders have lost six of their last seven games in all competitions and exited the EFL Cup in midweek after a youthful team went down 3-0 to Crystal Palace.
Liverpool host Aston Villa at Anfield tomorrow night knowing a win is required to get their season back on track and Slot is confident improvement is just around the corner.
He said: “The thing that gives me the most confidence is the quality of the players that we have. And the amount of chances these players are still creating.
“This will eventually always lead to these players scoring more goals than we have done until now.
“If I am speaking about what we have to improve, people will say I’m using excuses so maybe now it is better to just say we need to address certain things to do better. But, there are a lot of positives to go into this week as well. Quality of the players is the first and foremost and the amount of chances we create from open play is still good enough to compete for the competitions we want to compete for.”
Slot insinuated there were issues with the depth of his squad after the Palace game but he struck a more encouraging tone today when asked where he felt Liverpool may be short.
“We miss nothing,” he said. “I am happy that you asked this question because I am completely happy with the team and with all the quality that we have and I am also completely convinced by the strategy and the policy that we have but that makes the issue – if you call it an issue – is not all of them have had a proper pre-season or have been injured.
“When three or four are injured you go back to 16 players. I am a firm believer that 20 or 21 players is enough but you have to keep them fit as we did last season.
“But, no excuses for our results before people say this. We have had to play a lot of away games with only two days rest in-between and that would have been difficult for our players last season and players that have been fit all pre-season but that has not been our situation. It is nothing to do with the squad depth, it is how we’ve gone throughout the season in terms of injuries and availability.”
Villa started the season in their own mini-slump but have emerged with flying colours over the past few weeks. They have won six of seven in all competitions, the latest coming last Sunday against Manchester City.
They start the weekend in eighth, level on points with the defending champions.
Team News for Liverpool v Aston Villa
Record signing Alexander Isak remains sidelined for Liverpool, as do Alisson, Curtis Jones and Jeremie Frimpong.
Midfield lynchpin Ryan Gravenberch could feature after returning to training.
Villa will be without Youri Tielemans and Andres Garcia through injury while Harvey Elliott is ineligible to face his parent club.
Emi Buendia is a doubt.
Predicted line-ups for Liverpool v Aston Villa
Liverpool: Mamardashvili; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitike
Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen; Kamara, Onana; McGinn, Rogers, Malen; Watkins
How to watch Liverpool v Aston Villa: TV and online streams
Liverpool versus Aston Villa kicks off at 8pm UK time tomorrow night. You can watch it on TNT Sports and stream via the discovery+ app.
Global channels can be found here.
Stats for Liverpool v Aston Villa
- Liverpool have won six of their last seven Premier League home games against Aston Villa (D1), having been winless against them in four at Anfield before this (D2 L2)
- Liverpool are looking to avoid losing five consecutive league matches for the first time since September 1953 – they are the first side in English top-flight history to win their first five matches in a season but then lose each of their next four
Prediction for Liverpool v Aston Villa
This can’t go on. Slot is right, Liverpool have too much quality for this slump to last much longer.
Prediction: Liverpool 3-1 Aston Villa
