Saturday, December 17, 2011

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18.12. (Sun) 15:05 Aston Villa - Liverpool

Aston Villa's Emile Heskey listens to the crowd noise as he snatches a late winner at Wolverhampton (Getty Images)

PROBABLE LINEUPS


ASTON VILLA

Guzan
Hutton, Dunne, Collins, Warnock
Herd, Petrov, Bannan
Albrighton, Bent, N’Zogbia
LIVERPOOL
 
Reina
Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Enrique
Adam, Henderson, Rodriguez
Kuyt, Suarez, Downing

Brad Guzan will continue deputising for Shay Given, while Gabriel Agbonlahor is suspended having picked up his fifth booking of the season against Bolton. His omission could see Emile Heskey (against his former side), Stephen Ireland or Nathan Delfouneso get a starting place. Fabian Delph has recovered from a knee injury which saw him miss the Bolton match.

For Liverpool, Jay Spearing is suspended for the second game of his ban and Steven Gerrard has not recovered from his ankle injury.

DID YOU KNOW?


  • Aston Villa’s 2-1 win at Bolton was their first away win this season in all competitions.
  • They have had just 63 shots on target in the league, fewer than any other team.
  • Villa have lost two of their last three home games.
  • At Villa Park, the home side have 38 league wins to Liverpool’s 27, while 21 have ended in a draw.
  • Villa player of the year Stewart Downing (pictured right) could make his return at Villa Park. Downing scored the only goal in this fixture on the last day of last season before making the move to Anfield.
  • That was Villa’s first win at home against Liverpool in 13 matches going back to a 2-1 win in 1998.
  • Liverpool have the best defensive record having only conceded more than a single goal on one occasion – a 4-0 loss at Tottenham Hotspur.
  • Liverpool’s games have produced the fewest goals this season with only 31 in 15 matches.
  • Their win against QPR was just their third at Anfield in eight matches.
  • The Reds have tasted defeat in just one of their last 13 matches in all competitions.
Prediction
Villa have come up against both Manchester clubs and Tottenham this season but offered little to no threat, and with Gabriel Agbonlahor suspended and Darren Bent having not scored in four, Liverpool will feel they just need to score once to come away with the points.
Editor's Prediction
Aston Villa 0-1 Liverpool