English Premier
2025-02-19 - Aston Villa vs Liverpool
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Wednesday 19th February 2025 - Kick Off 7:30pm
This game is live on TV
Aston Villa
Two dropped points against a relegation threatened club that had been reduced to ten men will have hurt Aston Villa and there is a feeling that they are missing an opportunity to return to the Champions League. Finishing the top four again was always going to be challenging, but fifth might be enough in the Premier League to earn a spot in the premier UEFA competition next time around and that has to be a target for Unai Emery and his players.
Big Cup games are coming up for Aston Villa, but they will not want to lose focus on the Premier League with the team sitting in 9th place in the standings and 6 points behind Manchester City in 4th. The side have a 6-6-1 record at Villa Park in the Premier League this season and they play three of their remaining four fixtures in February at home.
Aston Villa could not quite get over the line in the 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town on Saturday and that means they have won 2 of their last 7 games in all competitions. They are unbeaten in 12 at Villa Park in all competitions and Aston Villa have won 7 of their last 10 played here. However, Aston Villa have been held to draws in 3 of their last 4 Premier League games played in front of the home fans.
Ezri Konsa is a doubt, while Boubacar Kamara picked up an injury on Saturday and is unlikely to be ready for this rearranged fixture. Leon Bailey is hoping to be passed fit, but both Matty Cash and Amadou Onana may not be ready until next week.
Liverpool
Successes across all four competitions that Liverpool had entered in 2024/25 does mean the squad have been playing competitive fixtures every few days. This has perhaps just sapped some of the energy and Arne Slot's team were not at their best on Sunday when narrowly earning a win over Wolves at Anfield.
Ultimately they did win and Liverpool are once again 7 points clear of rivals Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table with another game ticked off the schedule. This time they will be ending the night having played a game more than The Gunners after making up a fixture against Everton earlier in the month and so Liverpool may feel they need to keep the pressure on by improving the 9-4-0 away record.
Liverpool had been beaten at Plymouth Argyle and drawn at Everton before the win over Wolves on Sunday in the Premier League. The Reds have won 1 of their last 4 away games in all competitions, while Liverpool have been held in 2 of their last 4 away Premier League fixtures played.
Curtis Jones is back from a suspension, but Joe Gomez and Cody Gakpo are both doubts.
Head to Head
Liverpool beat Aston Villa 2-0 at Anfield earlier this season.
The Reds had won on 3 straight visits to Villa Park in all competitions after a 7-2 defeat here in October 2020, but they could not hold onto a 1-3 lead to make it four wins in a row here in May last year.
Prediction
This is a fixture that should have been played on the weekend before the March international break, but it has been pushed forward now that Liverpool are in League Cup Final action that weekend.
With both Liverpool and Aston Villa progressing in the Champions League and the latter looking on course to reach the latter stages of the FA Cup, the decision was made for this game to be brought into February.
You can imagine both Unai Emery and Arne Slot would have preferred having an open week before more big Premier League games to close out February.
Aston Villa dropped two important points on Saturday, but will have had a bit more time to prepare for this fixture compared with Liverpool who edged out Wolves on Sunday.
They might still have a big advantage at the top of the Premier League table, but Liverpool looked a little leggy in the game on Sunday and the squad may be in need of a break. They will have won after their last League game in February now that the FA Cup exit has opened up a weekend, but for now Liverpool have to find a way to battle through tough moments.
Liverpool still have solid attacking options in the final third, which will make them dangerous for an Aston Villa team that are stretched at the back.
However, containing the attacking threats of the home team will be challenging as Liverpool have struggled to build momentum with clean sheets and so there is every chance Unai Emery's team can avoid defeat. Attacking subs can be made to impact the game in favour of Aston Villa and they have been very tough to beat at Villa Park all season.
Winning might be asking too much for Aston Villa, who have not done that in 4 previous home attempts against Liverpool.
But in saying that, Aston Villa have played well at home and they can certainly avoid defeat with Liverpool looking a short price at odds on.
Arne Slot has made the right decisions with his team selection throughout this campaign, and that has to be respected, but winning at Villa Park is going to be tough. The home team were beaten by Arsenal very early on this season, but Aston Villa deserved more from that game and have gotten some big results against the likes of Bayern Munich and Manchester City, and they can certainly earn a positive result against the Premier League leaders.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Aston Villa 2-2 Liverpool
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back Aston Villa + 0.5 Asian Handicap at 2.05 with Bet365
