Enda McElhinney’s selections for Aston Villa’s trip to Anfield include a win for Arne Slot’s side with an in-form winger finding the net.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool are purring and the Reds will host Aston Villa on Saturday evening (20:00) eager to consolidate their position at the top of the Premier League standings ahead of the upcoming international break.
The Dutch boss is making the silkiest of transitions to his role at Anfield and it was illustrated once more with a 4-0 Champions League success over Bundesliga kingpins Bayer Leverkusen in midweek.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, suffered their first European setback of the season on Wednesday against Club Brugge, who were the beneficiaries of a bizarre penalty concession from Tyrone Mings, and they have something to prove on Merseyside following three straight defeats in all competitions.
Liverpool v Aston Villa best bets
Liverpool to win & under 3.5 goals @ 21/20
Luis Diaz anytime goalscorer @ 7/5
Under 9.5 corners @ 6/4
Reds unlikely to run riot
Scoring four second-half goals against Bayer Leverkusen was something of an outlier for Liverpool, who have netted just nine goals in five home Premier League games under Slot.
Like his predecessor Jurgen Klopp, Slot believes in a high-pressing approach but the Dutchman also wants his side to be more selective in going for the killer pass and admits he has encouraged a degree of caution.
None of their five Premier League games at Anfield has featured more than three goals and that may well be the case once more against Aston Villa.
The Villans have lost three games on the trot and some pragmatism may be required from the Midlanders on their trip to the league leaders.
Liverpool’s patient approach should lead to another win, but don’t expect an Anfield goalfest.
Diaz primed to strike
Luis Diaz was the man of the hour for Liverpool in midweek as the Colombian netted a second-half hat-trick against Leverkusen.
Diaz’s deft finish just beyond the hour got the ball rolling and he added two more from close range late on as the Reds coasted past former Anfield favourite Xabi Alonso and his German champions.
Diaz has scored 11 goals for club and country this season and 27-year-old should again get the chance to advertise his qualities from the off.
He looks as likely as anyone to breach Villa’s defence on Saturday.
Corner count may be minimal
Backing the corner count to remain in single figures could be profitable as both sides’ games have returned low tallies of late.
Liverpool’s win over Brighton here last week featured 16, but their fixtures against Arsenal (four), the Seagulls in the EFL Cup (eight) and Leverkusen (four) got nowhere near that high tally.
Villa’s defeat to Brugge featured only five corners while their loss at Tottenham just crept into double figures with 10.
In 10 league games under Slot, Liverpool have recorded corner tallies as low as one, two and three (twice) while hitting double figures only against Ipswich and Wolves (both 10).
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