Liverpool vs Aston Villa Betting Pick | English Premier

English Premier

2021-04-10 - Liverpool vs Aston Villa

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Liverpool v Aston Villa
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 10th April 2021 - Kick Off 3pm
This game is live on TV

Liverpool

There have been signs that Liverpool were returning to their best form, but some of the confidence would have been dented in the 3-1 loss at Real Madrid in the Champions League Quarter Final First Leg. In usual circumstances Liverpool might have felt they can turn the tie around with the Second Leg being played at Anfield, but the current English Champions have been struggling to perform at this ground since the turn of the calendar year.

Results last weekend have firmly gone in Liverpool's favour and it has seen them remain in 7th place, but importantly they are only 3 points off the Champions League places in the Premier League. The Reds play before their main rivals in the top four race this weekend, but Liverpool only hold a 7-2-6 record at Anfield in the League.

Liverpool had won 3 in a row in all competitions and each with a clean sheet too, but all of those games were played away from Anfield and the run was ended at Real Madrid on Tuesday evening. It has been over a month since Liverpool last played here which may have seen some forget that they have lost 6 Premier League games in a row here.

Jordan Henderson is not due back until later this month, but there are no new injury concerns for Liverpool following the Champions League fixture played during the week. Some changes could be made to freshen things up, but this is a big game for Liverpool and they do have a few days before the Champions League Quarter Final Second Leg is scheduled to be played.

Aston Villa

A poor run of form looked set to continue through another week for Aston Villa when a huge mistake saw them gift Fulham the lead last Sunday. However, Dean Smith will have been very pleased with the reaction of his players who scored late goals to win the fixture 3-1 and once again ignite their hopes of pushing towards European Football at the end of the campaign.

They are up to 9th in the Premier League table and Aston Villa are 5 points behind Liverpool, but also have a game in hand. The side have a 7-3-5 record away from home where Aston Villa have scored 19 goals and conceded 12.

Aston Villa had not only failed to win any of 4 League games, but they had failed to score in 3 of those before the come from behind win over Fulham. The away form has been pretty solid of late with Aston Villa having lost 1 of their last 5 Premier League games on their travels.

Jack Grealish was a late scratch from the squad last weekend and he is a doubt for this fixture as Dean Smith refuses to take risks with his best player who will be hoping to represent England at the delayed Euro 2020 Tournament this summer.

Head to Head

One of the more memorable results of the 2020/21 season was Aston Villa's 7-2 win over Liverpool in October.

Liverpool earned some revenge by beating a very young Aston Villa team in the FA Cup Third Round, but more redemption may be on the mind of the players.

The Reds have won their last 2 home games against Aston Villa.

Prediction

If results had gone against Liverpool last weekend you could easily have made a case for the Champions League having a much bigger priority for the club over the Premier League. Even now the fans may feel the Champions League is the best route back into the same competition next season, but Liverpool have closed to within 3 points of the top four in the Premier League and so a strong team should be selected for this League game.

Losing 3-1 in Madrid may also have made it more important for Liverpool to keep the pressure on those teams above them by winning before the likes of West Ham United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur play.

It will also be a morale boosting win for Liverpool having lost 6 Premier League games in a row at Anfield, especially as they will be hosting Real Madrid here on Wednesday. Another home defeat may just have the players feeling they can't overturn the deficit, but a win on Saturday will be a boost at just the right time and they may just be facing Aston Villa at a good time.

The visitors have looked desperate at the back so I do think this Liverpool team will create chances against them, while the return of Diogo Jota has given Liverpool another strong attacking option. The Portuguese star has played well since returning and I do think Liverpool will create chances against this Aston Villa defence which has a better defensive record than the underlying statistics suggests they should have.

Aston Villa can cause problems for the Liverpool defence with the attacking pace they have, but Jack Grealish's absence would be a big blow. Even without him there will be opportunities for Aston Villa, but perhaps not as frequent as they would like and Liverpool should create chances to win this fixture.

I expect Liverpool will need to score at least two goals to win this game and earn the confidence boosting victory that will at least give them some belief before facing Real Madrid again during the week. I think the return of Jota gives them another threat in the final third and I think Aston Villa will offer up enough for Liverpool to do that in this League game.

The Statistics :

LIVERPOOL LAST SIX HOME FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2021-03-07	L	0-1	H v Fulham
	2021-03-04	L	0-1	H v Chelsea
	2021-02-20	L	0-2	H v Everton
	2021-02-07	L	1-4	H v Man_City
	2021-02-03	L	0-1	H v Brighton
	2021-01-21	L	0-1	H v Burnley

ASTON_VILLA LAST SIX AWAY FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2021-03-12	D	1-1	A v Newcastle
	2021-03-03	L	1-0	A v Sheff_Utd
	2021-02-27	W	0-1	A v Leeds
	2021-02-13	D	0-0	A v Brighton
	2021-01-30	W	0-1	A v Southampton
	2021-01-27	L	3-2	A v Burnley

HEAD TO HEAD LIVERPOOL v ASTON_VILLA
DATE	HOME	SCORE	AWAY
2020-07-05	Liverpool	2-0	Aston_Villa
2015-09-26	Liverpool	3-2	Aston_Villa
2014-09-13	Liverpool	0-1	Aston_Villa
2014-01-18	Liverpool	2-2	Aston_Villa
2012-12-15	Liverpool	1-3	Aston_Villa
2012-04-07	Liverpool	1-1	Aston_Villa