Aston Villa vs Liverpool
If you predicted football matches on the basis of recent history, you wouldn’t even consider backing Aston Villa in this one.
That is because Liverpool have earned five successive Premier League victories over Villa by an aggregate score of 15-3.
What’s more, this fixture has produced 20 away wins, the most in Premier League history: 14 of them for Liverpool with a further six for Villa.
Add in the fact that Villa haven’t won their opening three top-flight games in a season since 1962 – and that it’s 120 years since they began a season by keeping three successive clean sheets – and the omens don’t bode well for the hosts.
However, since when have omens alone decided the outcome of football matches?
Talking Points
Both sides have created their own Premier League highlights in the opening weeks of the new season.
Reigning champions Liverpool have largely been in a class of their own with three wins out of three, including convincing showings against rivals Chelsea and Arsenal, even though the Gunners got a modicum of revenge in the League Cup in midweek.
Villa opened with a narrow win against Sheffield United and followed that up in convincing style at Fulham and have recruited well again this week.
Last season they stayed up by the skin of their teeth, although managed to show glimpses of their potential by reaching the League Cup Final where they were narrowly defeated by Manchester City.
This term, strengthened by the likes of goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez and this week, on loan from Chelsea, Ross Barkley, Villa seem to have more depth.
That has been helped of course by the experienced gained by their talisman, captain Jack Grealish (who ran the show at Fulham) and John McGinn.
Indeed, loan signing and boyhood Everton fan Barkley could make his debut against Liverpool, while Grealish has overcome the dead leg he sustained against Fulham. That midfield could cause problems for any opponent.
Bjorn Engels and Kortney Hause are injured.
Liverpool will assess the fitness of captain Jordan Henderson, while Thiago Alcantara and Sadio Mane are self-isolating after positive tests for coronavirus.
The absence of Mane will be a welcome boost for Villa as the Senegalese livewire has scored six goals in as many Premier League appearances against them for both Southampton and Liverpool. That includes the quickest ever Premier League hat-trick, scored inside two minutes and 56 seconds, while playing for the Saints in May 2015.
So, there you have it. Two sides who have started the season well.
The Merseysiders could become the first team in top-flight history to win each of their opening four league matches in three consecutive seasons.
Villa are vying to win three consecutive matches in the division for the first time since April 2010.
Something, presumably, has to give!
History
Villa have beaten Liverpool on 58 occasions since their very first meeting in 1894. Liverpool have won 96 times, while 40 of the meetings have ended all square.
If you discount a 5-0 Villa success in last season’s League Cup quarter-final, when Liverpool played a youthful reserve side, the Merseysiders have only lost two of their last 10 meetings.
This fixture last term was a pivotal one in Liverpool’s title success.
The hosts led until the 87th minute through a Trezeguet goal but Andrew Robertson’s equaliser was followed up by a stoppage-time Mane winner which sealed a key victory in their title triumph and served as a shining example of the type of win which would be the bedrock of their success in 2019-20.
The return fixture was played in July by which time Liverpool had already been crowned champions. They won 2-0 at Anfield, thanks to goals from Mane and youngster Curtis Jones.
The last time Villa beat Liverpool at home in the league was on the final day of the 2010-11 season when Stewart Downing netted the only goal against a side he would later join.
Betting Tip
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Aston Villa vs Liverpool | Total Goals 2-3 @ 2.08 |
| October 5, 02:15 (GMT+8) |
The SBOTOP Premier League betting odds are firmly against Villa this weekend, although the League Cup defeats both sides suffered on Thursday night should have little impact on the outcome of this.
Liverpool 1X2 @ 1.41 and Asian Handicap -1.25 @ 1.91 show they are clear favourites, while Villa can be tipped 1X2 @ 7.00 and Asian Handicap + 1.00 @ 2.28.
The draw is on offer @ 4.60, while a repeat of last year’s result – correct score 1-2 – will pay out an appealing @ 7.20.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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 = €20 (Highly confident) |
= €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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