Midweek action in the Premier League starts on Tuesday with a special meeting as Steven Gerrard and Aston Villa will host a Liverpool side that will be desperate to return to winning ways after dropping points against Tottenham.
The Reds are now three points behind Manchester City and also own a poorer goal difference. Can they improve it at Villa Park? Bookmaker 10bet has the odds at 2.25 for Liverpool to win by at least two goals, at 4.10 for them to win by at least three goals and at 8.50 for a win by at least four goals.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 9th, 9:00 A.M. (EST)
This Liverpool team is full of goals and they can crush almost any opposition although it was Aston Villa who picked up a big victory when these two last met in a league fixture in Birmingham. Ollie Watkins scored a hat trick and Jack Grealish had a spectacular game with two goals and three assists in a huge 7-2 win.
Last season’s defeat at Villa Park is the only match Liverpool haven’t won against the Villans in their last eight league meetings. Additionally, the Reds haven’t lost consecutive away outings against Aston Villa since 1998.
If Villa are going to beat Liverpool again then Watkins should be in the thick of everything once more. He’s just become the first English Villa player since Gabriel Agnolahor in 2008-09 to hit 10-plus top-flight goals in consecutive seasons and he should be full of confidence after scoring in back-to-back games.
Watkins can run all day and he’s a threat with both his head and his feet. Liverpool’s defense has to be fully focused for the whole 90 minutes to deal with Watkins.
Jürgen Klopp’s team has been tough to break down all season long and they can equal a club record of 22 Premier League clean sheets on Tuesday but a run of 11 goals conceded in the last 10 games across all competitions shows that things aren’t currently working perfectly.
Liverpool can also set a new Premier League record by picking up their 19th victory of the season against a bottom-10 side. There are some pretty good teams in the bottom half, including Villa, but Liverpool have still completely dominated the clashes with a combined score of 52-4.
With three games to go there is still some time for Liverpool to turn the tide in the title race, but they likely have to win every game now and by as many goals as possible. With that in mind, Klopp badly needs to get Mohamed Salah firing again. The Egyptian superstar has gone goalless in 11 of his last 12 appearances.
