PREMIER LEAGUE TUESDAY: The Striker previews Tuesday’s Premier League game between ASTON VILLA v LIVERPOOL with extended match stats and a recommended BETDAQ bet.
ASTON VILLA V LIVERPOOL
8pm We have a very busy midweek Premier League fixture list and we kick it off on Tuesday on BETDAQ Betting Exchange with Aston Villa hosting Liverpool. Unfortunately for Liverpool, the title race swung towards Manchester City at the weekend with Liverpool dropping points at home to Spurs. Jurgen Klopp was moaning afterwards in the press conference about the brand of football Spurs played, but to be honest Liverpool are so good you’re first job against them has to be to stop them playing their game. If you allow the game to be open, you’ll lose against this Liverpool side.
Manchester City now lead by three points and with a better goal difference too, Liverpool have it all to do. All they can do is keep winning though and ask the question can City handle the pressure. City are away to Wolves on Wednesday and away to West Ham at the weekend – games that they should win to be honest but there chance is there for something to go wrong. I would assume City will start those games around 1.4 to win. Liverpool have a massive FA Cup Final this weekend against Chelsea to worry about, but it would be a nice bounce back if they could join City on points here.
Aston Villa have put back-to-back wins together, but those wins have come against Norwich and Burnley. It’s fair to say that Liverpool are on a different planet compared to Norwich and Burnley, and Liverpool should have no trouble getting back to winning ways here. Obviously we’ll have to Steven Gerrard v his old club narrative here, but Aston Villa have been a pretty average this season. Their xG figures have been poor for a large part of the season, and they were able to get good momentum when Gerrard came in but if you look at the under lining numbers their performances didn’t change or improve much.
It’s been a dramatic week for Liverpool. They had all the drama in the Villarreal game in the first half before coming through strongly in the second half, and then obviously dropping points at the weekend in a big game would have took a mental toll too. However, that being said there’s a huge gulf in class between the sides here and I would have Liverpool much closer to 1.4 here and the 1.47 looks cracking value to me.
Aston Villa fans will never forget the 7-2 win, but Liverpool have won three in a row now in all competitions against Aston Villa. Firmino returned to training before the Spurs game but wasn’t risked then, he should be OK for this game however. Klopp has no major injury concerns and he can’t really afford to rest players for the FA Cup Final either given they are under pressure in the title race. It’s tempting to look at some fancy prices on Liverpool to cover the handicap, but I prefer a confident bet on them to win at 1.47.
The Striker Says:
Four points win Liverpool to beat Aston Villa at 1.47 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/AstLiv
MATCH STATS
● Aston Villa won this exact fixture 7-2 last season – they’ve not beaten Liverpool in consecutive home league games since February 1998.
● Liverpool have won seven of their last eight Premier League meetings with Aston Villa, with the exception being a 7-2 loss at Villa Park last season.
● There have been 20 away wins in Premier League meetings between Aston Villa and Liverpool, with the Reds’ 14 wins at the Villans more than they’ve beaten any other side on the road. In fact, only Manchester City vs Manchester United (21) has been won by the away side more in Premier League history.
● Liverpool have scored 41 away Premier League goals this season, only failing to score in only one away game (0-1 vs Leicester). The Reds have only scored more away league goals in two seasons: 42 in 1946-47 (won the top-flight) and 48 in 2013-14 (finished 2nd in Premier League).
● Aston Villa have won their last two Premier League matches and are looking to win three in a row for only the third time in their last nine top-flight campaigns. Those two runs have come in the last two seasons, a four-game run in September/October 2020, and a three-game run in February/March this year.
● Liverpool haven’t dropped a single point against sides starting the day in the bottom half of the table this season, winning all 18 such games by an aggregate score of 52-4. No team in Premier League history has ever won 100% of their games against bottom half sides in a single campaign, with Liverpool’s 18 wins the joint-most along with Manchester United in 2006-07.
● Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins has scored more Premier League goals against Liverpool than he has any other side (4), netting a hat-trick in this exact fixture last season.
● Sadio Mané has scored 14 Premier League goals for Liverpool this season, with only Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota netting more for the club. Liverpool could become just the second team in Premier League history to have three players reach 15 goals in a single campaign, after Manchester City’s title winning side of 2013-14 (Yaya Touré, Sergio Agüero and Edin Dzeko).
● Ollie Watkins has netted 10+ goals in each of his two Premier League seasons for Aston Villa (10 this season, 14 in 2020-21). He’s only the third Englishman to do so in consecutive seasons for Villa, only with Dion Dublin (11 in 1998-99, 12 in 1999-00) and Gabriel Agbonlahor (11 in 2007-08, 12 in 2008-09, 13 in 2009-10).
● Aston Villa’s Danny Ings has netted against former sides Burnley and Southampton in the Premier League this season, with Romelu Lukaku in 2017-18 the last player to score against three former sides in a season (Chelsea, Everton and West Brom).
