Liverpool and Aston Villa go toe-to-toe as Villa Park host an all Premier League FA Cup Third Round tie

Liverpool travel to the West Midlands in the hunt of redemption and to secure a place in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup as they face Aston Villa at Villa Park.

We know what happened last time the Premier League champions visited Villa Park. The Villans shocked the whole world by smashing seven goals past Liverpool in a famous 7-2 victory over the Reds as Aston Villa set their early pace near the top of the Premier League table.

Since then, Villa have gone on leaps and bounds in the Premier League. Having beaten Jurgen Klopp’s men, they’ve lost 3-0 to Leeds, lost 4-3 to Southampton in a tight encounter and importantly beaten Arsenal, West Brom, Wolves and Crystal Palace all in the space of a few weeks.

Manchester United ended Villa’s five-game unbeaten run as they beat the West Midlands side 2-1 at Old Trafford in the Premier League which allowed the Red Devils close up on Liverpool and joined them at the top of the league, with Liverpool only ahead on goal difference.

The home side got the lead with five minutes to go in the first half. Anthony Martial scoring past Emiliano Martínez after a fantastic cross from Aaron Wan-Bissaka saw the Frenchman nod the ball into the net and past the Aston Villa goalkeeper.

Bertrand Traore got Villa back in the game in the 58th minute. A quick free-kick routine saw John McGinn pick out Jack Grealish in space. The Englishmen crossed the ball into the box with Douglas Luiz jumping over the ball and Traore was there in the right place at the right time as he took a touch and slotted the ball past David de Gea.

Three minutes later, United restored their lead through Bruno Fernandes’ penalty. Paul Pogba was pulled back by Luiz as the Frenchmen fell to the ground and Michael Oliver pointed to the spot. VAR did have a look at the decision but Oliver’s decision remained as the Red Devils took the chance to make it 2-1.

Fernandes stepped up to the plate and slotted the ball into the bottom corner as he switched up his routine from a hop and a skip to a straight run-up and shot.

That win took United joint-top of the Premier League with Liverpool and extended their unbeaten run in the league to ten matches. Aston Villa’s loss meant they stayed in seventh but are still only three points away from fourth-placed Tottenham.

In their latest endeavours, the Champions Liverpool faced Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium in a vital game for both sides as the Reds looked to return to winning ways after two draws against Newcastle and West Brom. Whereas for the Saints, they tried to get back near the top six after 0-0 draws against West Ham and Fulham.

It was a game of two very different game styles as the Saints were happy to sit back and allow Liverpool’s possession game to get them absolutely nowhere.

Danny Ings scored the only goal of the game in the second minute as a delivery from James Ward-Prowse saw Saints’ frontman dink Alisson and celebrate his 50th Premier League of his career as he put his side into a 1-0 lead that they would hold onto.

The Reds looked stable at the back but had nothing going for them at the front with Liverpool having 17 shots and only one of them would end up on target which saw a poor performance from the frontmen of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.

Liverpool’s possession-based game did not work as passes went astray and nothing went forward as the Champions endeavoured their third bad performance in a row.

We know what happened last time Liverpool travelled to Villa Park, they endured their first Premier League defeat to a rampant Aston Villa display.

Ollie Watkins opened the scoring in the fourth minute as Adrian made an awful error and passed the ball well short of Joe Gomez. Grealish gained possession of the ball and squared the ball to the first who scored his first Premier League goal at the time.

Watkins made it 2-0 in the 22nd minute with a thunderbolt of a goal. It was Grealish once again to assist the forward with a pass into the path of Villa’s number 11. He released his shot and was off celebrating again after it ended up in the top corner of Adrian’s goal.

Mohamed Salah reduced the deficit after his goal ten minutes later. The Egyptian latched onto a pass from Naby Keita and smashed the ball into the roof of Martinez’s goal.

Liverpool’s celebrations were short-lived as John McGinn scored to make it 3-1 for Villa. His volley was deflected off of Virgil van Dijk’s shin and wrong-footed Adrian to sail into the Reds’ goal.

Watkins scored Villa’s fourth and also completed his hat-trick in the process as the hosts went into half-time 4-1 up.

Ten minutes into the second half, Ross Barkley made it 5-1 Villa after another assist from Grealish. Salah responded with Liverpool’s second in the 60th minute.

Two further goals from Grealish saw Villa take a famous victory at Villa Park over the Champions. Liverpool will not want history to repeat itself again as both sides look to return to winning ways and what better way than to progress into the Fourth Round of the FA Cup.

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