(Football news) Aston Villa will hope to maintain their winning streak under Unai Emery when they take on Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool at Villa Park in the Premier League. The Reds have already lost to Manchester City 3-2 in the Carabao Cup recently and they will be hoping to regain their form to salvage their season for a place in the Champions League next season. Aston Villa are 12th in the Premier League, five points clear of the bottom three and just one point off a place in the top half of the table.

Aston Villa played four friendly matches during the World Cup break but only managed to secure a single win, which was 1-0 against Chelsea on December 11th. A victory against Liverpool will mean that Emery will become the first Aston Villa manager to win his first three Premier League games. Villa have an excellent record at home, losing only two from nine games but Liverpool look to be in fine goalscoring form, with Fabio Carvalho and Mohamed Salah getting on the scoresheet against City in their defeat at the Carabao Cup.

In team news, Argentina and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez will be unavailable after recently winning the World Cup and it’s expected that he will receive a talking to by Unai Emery for mocking Kylian Mbappe which means Robin Olsen will feature in goal. Villa will remain without Diego Carlos, and Jacob Ramsey while Philippe Coutinho is doubtful due to a thigh injury.

As for Liverpool, Ibrahima Konate won’t be available for selection after featuring in the World Cup final for France but Virgil van Dijk should feature in centre back. Klopp has a number of injury concerns as James Milner (hamstring) and Roberto Firmino (calf) will join Curtis Jones, Arthur, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota in the treatment room but Trent Alexander-Arnold should be available after recovering from illness. A narrow victory for Liverpool seems like the likely result from this fixture.

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