That match, Tyrone Mings, Liverpool tomorrow and match facts from the BBC
Yesterday at 02:40 PM
When you're in a slump, there are some sides you want to play and some sides you don't want to play. Pretty much everyone wants to play us when they're in a slump, but I'm not sure we have a side we want to play and while many will think we don't want to be playing Liverpool this weekend, it doesn't bother me that much.
I've got fond memories of playing Liverpool and while it's going to be a tough match, I'm not convinced they've got that much more than us and while we are very much in a slump, it could be positioned that they are very much at the peak of new manager syndrome and by that I mean, he's a new manager and it isn't going to get much better than what they are experiencing at the moment and it isn't going to stay like this.
So, you never know and we've got nothing to lose, but more on that tomorrow. I can't not write about the other night.
And I think I wrote at half time that I think we showed them too much respect. I don't think we went looking for a goal in the way we could have and I think that allowed Club Brugge into the match. I think it gave them hope.
But we wanted to give them a little more than just hope. Or Mings did. And I don't know what to say about this. I'll get into trouble and it's not me, or maybe I have echoed it, but someone once said that Mings always has a mistake in him. This was schoolboy and there is just no defending it.
Look, I like the Mings the man and his approach and passion, but how do you defend picking up the ball in the box during a match? Fortunately, we are still eighth place in the Champions League and there are plenty of opportunities for him to make it up.
That said, this post is all about tomorrow. It's a big match and one that have no doubt, will generate a great deal of interest and opinion, one way or the other. I'll be back in the morning.
Match facts from the BBC
Head-to-head
This is Liverpool's 100th home game versus Aston Villa in all competitions. The Reds have won 62 times and lost only 17.
Aston Villa's solitary victory in the past 13 Premier League meetings was by 7-2 at Villa Park in October 2020, with Ollie Watkins scoring a hat-trick.
Villa have only taken one point from six league visits to Anfield since a 1-0 win in September 2014.
Liverpool
Arne Slot has made the best start by any Premier League manager in history, with 14 wins from 16 competitive games in charge.
Slot is the first Liverpool manager to win as many as eight of his first 10 top-flight fixtures in charge of the club.
Liverpool have the best defensive record in the division, although four of their six goals conceded have come in the past three matches.
Mohamed Salah is vying to score in four consecutive Premier League appearances for the first time since a run of seven from August to October 2021.
Salah has been directly involved in an unsurpassed 12 Premier League goals this season, scoring seven and providing five assists. He has had 96 touches in the opposition penalty area, the most in the division.
Aston Villa
Aston Villa have equalled their longest losing streak under Unai Emery of three matches across all competitions.
They could suffer consecutive Premier League defeats for the first time in 18 months.
Their only clean sheet in 15 league fixtures came in a 0-0 home draw against Manchester United last month.
Villa have gone 18 Premier League away games without a win against sides starting the day top of the table, losing all but two, since beating Leeds 2-1 in January 2000.
Emery is winless in 10 competitive games against Liverpool since Sevilla's 3-1 Europa League final victory in 2016 in his first encounter with the Reds. His teams have only managed three points from seven league matches versus Liverpool (D3, L4).
Morgan Rogers can become the third Villa player to score in four successive Premier League away fixtures, emulating Ollie Watkins (six from January to April 2023) and Dwight Yorke (four from March to May 1998).
