Overview
Having to fight in the Europa League partly affects Aston Villa's performance in the Premier League recently. However, the efforts of Unai Emery's team were rewarded when they won a ticket to the European final after a 4-1 victory over Nottingham Forest.
In the Premier League, Villa has only won one point in the last three rounds. They drew Burnley 2-2 in the recent match after two consecutive defeats against Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur.
However, the Villa Park team still holds a great advantage in the race to win a Champions League spot. Aston Villa is currently ranked fifth with a 4-point gap from Bournemouth, who are behind, so they can officially win a Champions League spot right in this round if the results are favorable.
In addition, Emery's team still has another path to return to the most prestigious European arena. If they defeat Freiburg in the Europa League final, Villa will also definitely participate in the Champions League in the 2026-2027 season.
However, head-to-head history is not on the side of the Villa Park home team. Aston Villa has only won one of their last 16 Premier League encounters against Liverpool - a memorable 7-2 victory in October 2020.
In the opposite direction, Liverpool entered this match after a 1-1 draw against Chelsea, in an continued disappointing performance of the reigning Premier League champions.
Arne Slot's team also just lost to Manchester United 2-3 at Old Trafford. However, Liverpool still has a big advantage in the race to win tickets to the Champions League next season.
The Red Brigade" still has a chance to finish the season in third place, but the condition is that they must win both remaining matches, and at the same time wait for Man United to stumble in both final rounds by improving goal difference.
Although Liverpool did not have a season as expected, Arne Slot is likely to continue to be given faith at Anfield. The Merseyside team certainly wants to soon complete the goal of winning a Champions League spot before entering the final match against Brentford at home.
One of Liverpool's biggest problems this season lies in away form. They only have the ninth best away record in the Premier League when they have lost 8 out of 18 away games. This is considered a weakness that Slot needs to improve if Liverpool wants to return to the championship race next season.
Personnel situation
Aston Villa will continue to be without Boubacar Kamara due to a knee injury, while Alysson and Amadou Onana are also absent due to problems related to the groin and calf.
However, Unai Emery still possesses a relatively strong force before welcoming Liverpool.
On Liverpool's side, Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike, Giovanni Leoni and Wataru Endo are definitely absent due to injury.
In addition, the possibility of Ibrahima Konate, Alisson Becker and Florian Wirtz playing is still open as all three have not reached their best physical condition.
Good news for Arne Slot is that Mohamed Salah has returned from injury and may be used for a short time in this match.
Expected lineup:
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne, Lindelof, Tielemans, McGinn, Rogers, Buendia, Watkins.
Mamardashvili, Jones, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Wirtz, Szoboszlai, Gakpo, Isak.
The match between Aston Villa and Liverpool takes place at 2:00 AM on May 16 (Vietnam time).
