Liverpool vs Aston Villa LIVE!
The Reds welcome Villa to Anfield this evening looking to assert themselves at the top of the Premier League. Liverpool head into the weekend two points clear of champions Manchester City, but will not take to the field tonight until after City play Brighton. Arsenal, seven points back in fifth, play on Sunday.
Liverpool have just one real blemish on their season copybook so far, a home loss to Nottingham Forest, while their title rivals continue to drop points around them. Villa may not have designs on a title challenge but are firmly in the race for the top four, despite a concerning second-half collapse at Tottenham last weekend.
Unai Emery needs to lift his men after back-to-back defeats, having lost to Club Brugge in bizarre circumstances in the week, and there are fewer tougher places to go than Anfield, and especially under the lights. Follow the game LIVE below with our dedicated match blog.
Liverpool vs Aston Villa latest updates
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Kick-off: 8pm GMT, Anfield
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How to watch: TNT Sports
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Liverpool XI: Two chances as Nunez comes in
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Aston Villa XI: Four changes for visitors
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How to watch: Reds to march on
20:07 , Alex Young
6min: Best move of the game so far as Liverpool break on Villa, sending Salah darting down the right. He cuts inside, looks up before trying to find the near bottom corner, but Torres blocks the shot.
20:06 , Alex Young
4min: Plenty of early possession for Liverpool. A fairly tepid start from both.
20:03 , Alex Young
2min: Early half-sight of goal for Liverpool as Nunez is sent scampering into the area but he can’t bring the ball under control in the area before tumbling to the floor.
Kick-off!
20:01 , Alex Young
1min: Here we go!
Unai Emery on the Anfield atmosphere
19:55 , Alex Young
“We know the atmosphere here is fantastic. The supporters stick with the team, but we have our supporters as well. We are playing for them tonight.”
The players are in the tunnel.
19:54 , Alex Young
Right, almost time. Anfield is buzzing for this one after that City result.
Trent Alexander-Arnold on the title race
19:52 , Alex Young
“It’s still early doors but we have set a good foundation for the rest of the season.
“We have been here before. We’ve had good starts to a season before and ended up with no trophies.”
19:40 , Alex Young
Liverpool can now go five points clear at the top with a victory.
19:32 , Alex Young
Brighton win, handing Man City their fourth defeat in a row across all competitions – the worst run on Pep Guardiola’s managerial career.
Over to Liverpool to get the job done.
19:24 , Alex Young
This will give Liverpool such a boost heading into the fixture.
19:13 , Alex Young
Brighton have now taken the lead! This is a remarkable collapse from the champions.
19:11 , Alex Young
Brighton have just equalised against Man City, with about 10 minutes left to play.
If that result holds, Liverpool can go four points clear at the top by beating Aston Villa.
19:03 , Alex Young
It’s two changes for Liverpool as Nunez and Robertson come back in, replacing Gakpo and Tsimikas.
Aston Villa make four changes as Onana, Ramsey, Torres and Digne return.
Team news in full
18:52 , Alex Young
Liverpool XI: Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson, Jones, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Nunez, Diaz
Subs: Jaros, Gomez, Tsimikas, Quansah, Endo, Szoboszlai, Morton, Bradley, Gakpo
Aston Villa XI: Martinez, Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne, Onana, Tielemans, Bailey, Rogers, Ramsey, Watkins
Subs: Olsen, Mings, Maatsen, McGinn, Buendia, Bogarde, Kamara, Duran, Philogene
Aston Villa XI
18:46 , Alex Young
…and the visiting Villans!
Liverpool XI
18:45 , Alex Young
Here’s how the hosts look!
18:29 , Alex Young
Team news is expected in 15 minutes.
Unai Emery on Aston Villa form
18:20 , Alex Young
Unai Emery insists he is not worried about Aston Villa’s recent drop in form and maintains they are competitive enough to be a top-four side.
Villa have drawn one and lost three in the last four, although two of those defeats were in the Carabao Cup and Champions League, and have dropped to sixth in the Premier League.
“I’m not worried about how we are now,” he said. “We are a competitive team to be in the top seven, top five, top four.
“My message, which was very clear from the start of the season when we were more or less getting points and being in the top four – not now but we were, was we are enjoying what we are doing.
“We had last year, a very successful season in Premier League, getting to the Champions League. This year, to keep it is the objective for us.
“But we are not contenders, we are not favourites – they are Liverpool, (Man) City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Newcastle.
“Of course there are some teams which are a surprise being there, like now Nottingham Forest. After last year, we were a surprise when we were getting the fourth position.
“There are another seven teams that we have to be more intelligent than and more competitive.”
Arne Slot on Luis Diaz up top
18:13 , Alex Young
Speaking earlier in the week, Arne Slot admitted even he was surprised how well Luis Diaz did as an experimental centre forward.
The Liverpool manager has already tried a number of variations up front, changing from his preferred centre forward due to an injury to Diogo Jota to line up with a false nine and, on one occasion two false nines.
“Lucho did really well and if was, even for me, maybe a bit of a surprise to see how well he did,” he said.
“I played him there for a reason, I expected him to do good but that he played so well that was even a surprise for me.”
If early team news reports are to be believed, it doesn’t sound like Diaz has been given the nod up top again.
18:06 , Alex Young
It sounds like Darwin Nunez starts. What does that mean for Luis Diaz?
Latest match odds
17:59 , Alex Young
The bookies are banking on this to be fairly routine for Liverpool.
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Liverpool to win: 4/9
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Draw: 15/4
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Aston Villa to win: 5/1
Score prediction
17:55 , Alex Young
Liverpool have largely been so strong at home all season that its difficult to look past them here.
Liverpool to win, 2-1.
Aston Villa team news
17:49 , Alex Young
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery is hopeful Youri Tielemans will be available as he is currently playing with knee pain and was omitted from Belgium’s squad for their forthcoming internationals.
Fellow midfielder Amadou Onana could return after being an unused substitute in the Champions League while defenders Lucas Digne and Pau Torres should come back in.
Liverpool team news
17:42 , Alex Young
Luiz Diaz is tonight pushing for a start. The Colombian was played through the middle against Bayer Leverkusen in midweek and scored three times in the second half as the Reds won 4-0 to hand the German side only their second defeat in Europe in over a year.
Diaz has lost his place in the Premier League in recent weeks, coming off the bench in wins against Crystal Palace, Chelsea and, most recently, Brighton, but is knocking on manager Arne Slot’s door after his midweek treble.
Darwin Nunez would have to make way for Diaz’s central role, or move back onto the left flank. Elsewhere, Andy Robertson is fighting to keep his left-back spot ahead of Kostas Tsimikas
Otherwise it is a case of as you were for Slot, with Alisson Becker (thigh), Diogo Jota (stomach), Harvey Elliott (foot) and Federico Chiesa (fitness) all still sidelined until after the international break.
Jota is not expected until “a couple of games” after the international break.
How to watch Liverpool vs Aston Villa
17:35 , Alex Young
TV channel: The game will be broadcast on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate. Coverage starts at 7pm GMT ahead of an 8pm kick-off.
Live stream: Subscribers will be able to watch on a live stream via the Discovery+ app.
Welcome
17:29 , Alex Young
Good evening and welcome to the London Standard’s LIVE coverage of the Premier League clash between Liverpool and Aston Villa.
Under the lights at Anfield, against two of the nation’s best teams – this could be a cracker.
Liverpool are beating (almost) all before them to sit pretty at the top of the table – though Man City could leapfrog them with a win over Brighton before kick-off.
Aston Villa head into the game after back-to-back defeats, but can beat any team on their day. Kick-off is at 8pm.
