(Football news) Prior to Jurgen Klopp’s final away game, the Reds have already been guaranteed a spot in the Champions League for the upcoming season; nevertheless, the Lions can join them at the top table of Europe if they earn the most points.

Unai Emery’s past fondness for winning on the continent did not translate into a spot for Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League final this time around. Olympiacos, a Greek powerhouse, defeated the Lions 4-2 in the first leg to secure their spot in the showpiece.

If Villa defenders were not already having nightmares about hat-trick hero Ayoub El Kaabi, the Olympiacos striker guaranteed that he would be haunting Lions’ dreams for a little while longer thanks to a second-leg brace, ensuring that the Greek giants would scrap it out with Fiorentina for European stardom on May 29.

Either side of their two losses to Olympiacos, Aston Villa also became a rare victim of a shot-shy Brighton & Hove Albion side in Premier League action, going down 1-0 to the Seagulls in the second of three consecutive defeats; they have never lost four on the spin under Emery’s wing, however.

Tottenham Hotspur’s success over Championship-bound Burnley on Saturday also denied Villa the chance to seal fourth without kicking a ball, but still four points clear of Spurs, a return to the European big time will be theirs if they come out on the correct end of Monday’s scoreline.

However, the hosts have lost their Villa Park sparkle after their historic 15-game winning sequence on home field, only prevailing in three of their last eight Premier League contests in front of their own fans, but Emery is yet to oversee back-to-back top-flight defeats in 2023-24.

Furthermore, Emery would officially oversee a record-equalling campaign should he mastermind a victory on Monday night, which would see the Lions match their 1992-93 highs of 21 Premier League wins overall and 13 at home, but he is yet to beat Liverpool in the Premier League, trying and failing six times in the past.

The Spaniard’s opposite number Jurgen Klopp has suggested that his counterpart should have been given more time to work his magic at Arsenal, whose North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur were the victims of a four-goal flurry from the rampant Reds at Anfield last weekend.

Pulling themselves out of their Everton and West Ham United ruts, Liverpool struck through Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson, Harvey Elliott and Cody Gakpo before Richarlison and Son Heung-min sparked slim hopes of an improbable turnaround, one which unsurprisingly did not come to fruition.

Sending Spurs back to North London empty-handed mathematically kept Liverpool in the hunt for top-flight glory, but owing to Manchester City’s crushing win over Fulham on Saturday lunchtime, it is now just a two-horse race between the champions and Arsenal.

In Klopp’s final campaign, the Merseyside team will mourn the loss of their hopes of winning the Premier League, but they can at least extend an incredible May winning streak in the German manager’s final away game; the team hasn’t lost in 18 May games in the league since losing 1-0 to Chelsea in 2018.

If Aston Villa could replicate their incredible 7-2 victory from October, it would be an even bigger blow to Klopp’s farewell. However, in their last seven meetings with Monday’s opponents—who were convincing 3-0 winners at Anfield in September and have 16 Premier League away victories against Villa—the Lions have lost six and drawn one.

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