LIVERPOOL VS. ASTON VILLA

| Saturday, November 1st |
Premier League | Anfield
8PM BST/4PM EST

Villa will be unable to call on Harvey Elliott for Saturday’s late kick off, as he is technically on loan from Liverpool this season even if there is a deal in place to buy him eventually. Emiliano Buendia is unavailable due to a minor injury he picked up against Manchester City last match, and Andres Garcia and Youri Tielemans remain out.

Villa have managed nine goals from 28 on target in the league this season, and have been in good form of late: they beat Manchester City 1-0 last time out, though did lose to Dutch side Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League that midweek. Their league form has been the uptick, however, as they beat Tottenham away and Burnley and Fulham at home since last dropping points domestically (against Sunderland in September). Their October was the opposite of Liverpool’s, seeing them come into form after a frustrating start to their 2025-26 season.

Buendia provided the assist for Matty Cash’s goal against City, and Villa will be missing his creativity. Despite absences, Villa have a formidable set of attacking players, with Ollie Watkins, John McGinn, and Morgan Rodgers all available to feature ahead of Cash, who remains a threat coming forward from defense. Jadon Sancho is available to replace Buendia, though the on-loan Sancho saw himself subbed back off after coming on at the weekend: his time in Birmingham has been disappointing and limited. Ross Barkley is another option there, and has caused Liverpool problems in the past (though it’s worth saying that everyone seems to be causing Liverpool problems at the minute).

Unai Emery, who has been at the helm at Aston Villa for three years now, is confident in his team, and has especially strong praise for Matty Cash, who recently signed a new contract. The defender will arrive on a high and should not be overlooked as a threat.

Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)

Mamardashvili; Bradley, Konaté, Van Dijk, Robertson; Wirtz, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai; Salah, Ekitiké, Gakpo

Well, at least we’re out of October? Maybe October is the curse?

Alisson, Jeremie Frimpong, and Giovanni Leoni are unavailable for this one, with Curtis Jones and Alexander Isak “99.9%” likely to also be out. The good news is that Ryan Gravenberch has returned to fitness and might return to the starting XI this weekend — though the midfielder returned to training just this Thursday and thus faces a late fitness test.

The Liverpool coach faces decisions in defense and midfield, and fan consensus seems to suggest the hope is to see Andy Robertson in for Miloš Kerkez at left back. If Gravenberch is fit he should start at the base of midfield, and Dominik Szoboszlai’s form has probably done enough to keep him in a starting role. Arne Slot will thus have to choose between a semi-out-of-form Alexis Mac Allister and a Florian Wirtz who looks ever-so-bright and yet also a bit off the physicality of the Premier League.

Without Alexander Isak the front three will likely be Cody Gakpo, Hugo Ekitiké, and Mohamed Salah, with all of us saying surely Salah will come into form eventually. It’s worth noting that fan favorite Federico Chiesa has probably done enough to earn a start — he has certainly been one of the few bright lights in a bad season thus far, but equally Slot will want someone to come off the bench and change things, and relying on young Rio Ngumoha seems a big ask.

Liverpool look to avoid losing five straight in the league for the first time since September 1953, as the Reds hope to avoid becoming the first ever team to win their first five top flight matches and then lose their next five. They face an Aston Villa side on the joint-longest winning run in the league (4), though the Villains have won just one of their last 15 away at Liverpool (and only one of 30 away against reigning Premier League champions — and it is worth remembering that Liverpool are still the champions even if it feels silly to sing about that anymore).

The Reds have faced a lot of long passes this season (571 total, which is about 20.5% of opposition passes faced and is the most any side have defended), and this tactic seems to be working. The Reds have looked poor in defensive transition, as the term “rest defense” has become a terrible thing to talk about when it comes to Liverpool. Should Gravenberch be fit there could be some improvement in that area, but the defensive unit are struggling with counter attacks thus far.

On a positive side, should Mohamed Salah contribute to a Liverpool goal on Saturday he’ll move to 276 goals and assists in the Premier League for a single club, even with Wayne Rooney who holds the record (183 goals, 93 assists). Salah has more goals (187) than Rooney for Manchester United.

The Managers Have Their Say

Arne Slot: “[I was disappointed], for 60 minutes. Thirty minutes was OK. I think the first half against [Crystal] Palace was also similar to that 60 minutes that I was talking about. The thing that gives me the most confidence is the quality of the players we have and the amount of chances these players are still creating. This will eventually always lead to these players scoring more goals than we’ve done until now. And we have to address certain other things but if I talk about that, if I’m speaking about what we have to improve, people then tell me I’m using excuses. So, maybe it’s better now just to say we need to address certain things to do better. But there are a lot of positives to go into this week as well. Like I said, the quality of players is the first and foremost and the amount of chances we create from open play is still good enough to compete for the positions we want to compete for..”

Unai Emery: “I have massive respect for [Liverpool]. They can have some moments where they’re not getting good results, but the coach showed last year his capacity and experience. How they played last year was amazing as a team. Tactically, I think they’re impact was fantastic, and they won the Premier League. This year they have the same coach and better players, but they are adapting things and building the team. They will need time to get comfortable and strong with the players they have, but individually they have very good players. My respect is massive, and I know tomorrow it’s going to be very difficult to get something there. We have to do our best tactically, our best individually, and we have to be clinical. Our commitment in the last matches, in everything we were planning to be strong in our gameplan, tomorrow will be very, very important. To stop them is very difficult. They have some injuries like we have. I’m excited and motivated, even more for the difficulties we will face against them.”

The Officials

Referee: Stuart Attwell Assistants: Nick Hopton, Craig Taylor Fourth official: Tom Bramall VAR: Paul Tierney Assistant VAR: Mat Wilkes

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