In spite of a 3-2 loss to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup, the match was a nice warmup for the Reds as they resume Premier League action with a Boxing Day tie with Aston Villa at Villa Park. Jürgen Klopp discussed the matchup, Aston Villla's new manager and the reintegration of players back into the squad after the World Cup.
Under New Leadership
Unai Emery took over managerial duties in October from Liverpool legend Steve Gerrard. This may have lessened the anticipation of this match for some supporters, but AVFC have proven to be a challenge under Emery's leadership. During his first match as the boss, Emery led Aston Villa to an upset win over Manchester United.
“I think what you can expect is that Unai stands for a specific kind of football and was really successful and did an incredible job at Villarreal,” Klopp said. “Not only there but now recently there. What you saw in the first few games they played and the games we could see in this ‘pre-season' now, it looks quite similar because it is a good way to play and it's his way and it's how he wants to organize a team.”
Scouting Aston Villa
Aston Villa has 5 wins on the season and Emery is an impressive 2-1 since he took over, so it seems as if the side is playing inspired football for their new boss. They are led in scoring by former Liverpool striker Danny Ings, who played for the Reds from 2015-18. He has a club-leading 6 goals on the season. Even though Aston Villa sits 12th in the EPL table, Liverpool cannot afford to take them lightly as road wins in the league have been hard to come by this season.
Welcome Back
While a few of the Liverpool plates who participated in the World Cup came on as substitutes vs Manchester City, Klopp expects mostly full participation against Aston Villa, including Ibrahima Konaté who played in the Final vs Argentina.
“For the players who played a lot during the World Cup, the whole year will be incredibly intense,” Klopp said. “Because they have now three or four games more now in a fully-packed schedule anyway. That's really, really, really tough. For the moment, we have to see how we deal with that and we will be really careful with all the information we get, but for the moment everybody should be fine.”
LFC Globe Verdict
While supporters are gathered around the tree, celebrating Christmas with visions of a big holiday meal to follow, Liverpool are hungry to restart EPL play. They hope their play on the field is as succulent as a Christmas goose with all the trimmings and it needs to be. Aston Villa seems to be reinvigorated under their new manager. Liverpool's quest to reach the Top-4 in the table starts now and nabbing all 3 points at Villa Park would be a good start.
Prediction- Liverpool 2 Aston Villa 0
Where To Watch
The Boxing Day tie will air at 17:30 GMT and will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime. The match will be broadcast to a national audience in the United States on NBC while Canadien supporters can watch on DAZN.