Aston Villa vs Liverpool LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction tonight
Live updates from Villa Park as Steven Gerrard meets Jurgen Klopp in tonight’s Premier League action
A slip from Steven Gerrard may have cost Liverpool a Premier League title. A team of his will not do likewise this year, valiantly as Aston Villa tried. For an hour, Manchester City seemed to be closing in on the crown. Liverpool looked like dropping points for the second successive game.
But there was no slip-up after May’s great catalyst intervened. Liverpool have trailed in all three matches in the month, but their powers of recovery have been aided by Luis Diaz. The January signing was the architect of Sadio Mane’s eighth goal in his last 10 starts. The Senegalese got a crucial winner at Villa Park in a title-winning campaign in 2019: this, earlier in the game but far later in the season, has the potential to be as crucial.
In an instant, Jurgen Klopp was rewarded for benching Mohamed Salah, whose goal drought, penalties and matches against Manchester United aside, stretches back to February. If Klopp picked on form, he was vindicated on a day when Liverpool struggled to reach their best as they were buffeted by waves of Villa attacks.
There was a sense that, 59 games into a marathon season, Liverpool’s strenuous efforts were finally catching up with them. They were stretched as Villa were the sharper side in the first half, but they have a resilience and Klopp has an array of formidable forwards and the three who started combined for a decider that felt further testament to the relentlessness of Diaz.
Follow reaction from Villa Park below:
Antonio Conte accuses Jurgen Klopp of looking for excuses after draw with Tottenham
Antonio Conte says Jurgen Klopp was looking for an “excuse or an alibi” when he criticised Tottenham Hotspur’s style of play following their 1-1 draw on Saturday.
Spurs were more than worthy of their point after they put in a resilient defensive display to stop the title chasers and they could easily have left Anfield with all three points had they been more clinical in attack.
Klopp, clearly frustrated at dropping two points in the title race, said afterwards: “I don’t like this kind of football, but that is my problem. I cannot coach it.”
Conte claimed his counterpart was trying to find excuses and should have kept his focus on his own team.
“Jurgen is an intelligent person, very clever,” the Italian said.
Antonio Conte accuses Jurgen Klopp of looking for excuses after draw with Tottenham
The Liverpool boss criticised the away side’s approach at Anfield
Aston Villa vs Liverpool
Liverpool are the only side in Europe’s top five leagues to boast an unbeaten league record in 2022 with 13 wins and three draws.
The Reds have only trailed for a total of 51 minutes in their top-flight matches this year: 16 vs Norwich City, 17 vs Manchester City and 18 vs Tottenham.
The teams arrive at Villa Park
Aston Villa and Liverpool have arrived ahead of kick off at 8pm. Jurgen Klopp has made a few changes to his starting XI, will that backfire on the Reds tonight?
Aston Villa vs Liverpool: Head-to-head
Liverpool have won seven of the last eight league meetings between the sides with the exception being their 7-2 away defeat last season.
Villa are aiming to beat Liverpool in consecutive home league games for the first time since February 1998. This fixture has produced 20 away wins in the Premier League, second only to Manchester City’s clashes with Manchester United (21).
Aston Villa vs Liverpool team changes
Steven Gerrard makes two changes to the Aston Villa team that defeated Burnley last time out. Marvelous Nakamba and Philippe Coutinho come in to replace Calum Chambers and Emiliano Buendia.
With the FA Cup final coming up on Saturday Jurgen Klopp swaps out a few of his first choice players. Andy Robertson is replaced with Kostas Tsimikas at left-back and Joel Matip returns alongside Virgil van Dijk ahead of Ibrahima Konate. Thiago Alcantara and Jordan Henderson make way for Naby Keita and Curtis Jones while Mo Salah is replaced with Diogo Jota in the forward line.
Aston Villa vs Liverpool line-ups
Aston Villa XI: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne, Nakamba, McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Coutinho, Watkins, Ings
Liverpool XI: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Tsimikas, Fabinho, Keita, Jones, Diaz, Jota, Mane
Aston Villa vs Liverpool
Aston Villa have taken seven points from their last three league matches, having lost their previous four in a row. They are aiming to win three consecutive league games for only the third time in nine top-flight seasons.
Can Aston Villa finish in the top 10?
Aston Villa’s aim for their last three league fixtures this season will be to secure a top 10 finish. They are currently 11th in the table trailing Crystal Palace by one point.
Manager Steven Gerrard was asked what it would feel like to end the season in the top half of the table and he said:
“It would be a satisfactory end to the season considering where we were when we took the job – 16th in the league and a couple of points above relegation.
“The first remit was to move the team into a safe place, first and foremost. Now we’re in a place with four games left where there’s a possibility to finish in the top ten and I think that would be a huge positive considering the club hasn’t done it for a decade.
“That would give us a positive base to go and have a real strong pre-season from.”
What next for European football at Uefa’s moment of truth?
To get a proper sense of just how distorted European football is, you only have to consider the consequences from the final day of last season’s Premier League. It had seemed a straight race between Leicester City and Chelsea for that fourth Champions League spot. It really wasn’t so simple.
Had Leicester managed to qualify, they would have been guaranteed at least €1.5m (£1.28m). Chelsea’s qualification, however, guaranteed them at least €30m.
That difference is so instructive on how football has got to this point, and where it is going. It is all based on the way Uefa’s prize money works, which has a cumulative effect depending on recent performance in Europe. These are the notorious “coefficients”, on which many clubs want to base qualification.
It obviously affords an inherent structural advantage for the big clubs. It also poses a structural question for the whole game.
How is any club supposed to catch up when that is the chasm? How are we ever supposed to return to anything like competitive balance?
What next for European football at Uefa’s moment of truth?
The Uefa executive committee meeting in Vienna could spark drastic changes to the Champions League and football calendar
What are Uefa’s new Champions League changes?
Uefa’s executive committee have confirmed the most significant changes to the Champions League in a generation.
Last April, days before the failed European Super League plot was launched, Uefa announced reforms to the Champions League had received unanimous backing from the European Club Association and Uefa Club Competitions Committee.
It confirmed plans to change the format of European football’s top club competition from 2024, giving the tournament its first new look in 20 years. The proposals were not met with the same level of backlash that greeted the Super League plans but have still been criticised by leading fans’ groups, including the Football Supporters’ Association [FSA].
What are Uefa’s new Champions League changes?
The Uefa executive committee met in Vienna on Tuesday and the proposed changes to the Champions League have now been confirmed
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