host with a win for both facet sufficient to safe Champions League qualification. BBC Sport explores some additional themes round this fixture.
Villa’s stuttering finish to the home season can be largely inconsequential if they’ll finish the 2025-26 marketing campaign with a primary main European trophy in 44 years.
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Villa have taken eight factors from the previous 27 obtainable, relationship again to a 2-0 loss at on 27 February after they sat third within the desk. Solely relegated and have amassed fewer factors over that interval.
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Villa’s main focus is Europe
Victory within the Europa League closing on Wednesday would assure a spot in subsequent season’s Champions League and render Villa’s closing league place virtually irrelevant.
Villa will begin as favourites towards German outfit subsequent week and in Unai Emery they possess a supervisor who excels in that competitors. The Spaniard has received 4 Europa League titles – a report for a supervisor – though it’s price noting that his solely defeat on this closing got here whereas in control of an English facet.
[BBC]
Friday’s Premier League match does nonetheless maintain some significance and a win would safe Villa’s place within the prime 5 with a sport to spare. They haven’t misplaced a closing league match at Villa Park since their Premier League return in 2019 (W4, D2), a run which incorporates an entertaining 3-3 draw with Liverpool two years in the past.
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Liverpool search to finish season on a excessive
It will be truthful to say that Liverpool’s title defence has not gone precisely to plan. The Reds head into this weekend 20 factors behind league leaders and have amassed 24 fewer factors than at this stage final season after struggling 11 defeats.
To place that into context, they misplaced solely 4 occasions final season and two of these got here in Might after the title was already within the bag.
Eight of this season’s 11 losses have come on the highway – their most away defeats in a top-flight marketing campaign for 14 years – they usually have collected only one level from seven journeys to face groups at present within the Premier League prime 9. Aston Villa are fifth.
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“Now we have dropped far too many factors in away video games,” admitted head coach Arne Slot, who was subjected to boos throughout final Saturday’s draw with Chelsea at Anfield. “However I’ve each purpose to imagine I’m the Liverpool supervisor subsequent season.”
The 2024-25 Premier League champions will finish the marketing campaign with no main trophy for less than the third time prior to now eight years, however victory at Villa Park would a minimum of verify Champions League soccer for subsequent season.
Liverpool maintain the higher hand in video games towards Friday’s opponent and have misplaced solely one among their earlier 16 Premier League conferences with Villa, profitable 12 and drawing three. That sole defeat was a 7-2 thrashing at Villa Park in October 2020 which stays the membership’s report Premier League defeat.
One other reverse this Friday, by any margin, would see Slot’s future known as additional into query.