Aston Villa have a chance to qualify for the Champions League tonight when they host Liverpool at Villa Park (kick-off at 20:00).
Only a win for Unai Emery’s side would ensure Tottenham mathematically can’t catch Villa and propel them to fourth tonight. However, if Villa draws, Tottenham would need to beat Manchester City to keep the Champions League race alive in the final. day, while a win for Pep Guardiola’s name-hunters would be enough for Villa to finish in the top four.
Villa came into the clash on the back of a 2-0 loss to Olympiacos in Greece, which ended the club’s quest for Europa Conference League glory. Emi Martinez returned from injury to start at Karaiskakis Stadium, but Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, Alex Moreno and Nicolo Zaniolo were injured.
Emery gave his team a day off on Friday given Athens’ long nighttime adventure at home. He will hope his exhausted side can cross the finish line tonight against a Liverpool side that has won just two of its last six away games in all competitions. they lost only once to Mersey’s rivals Everton.
Liverpool have won eight of their last nine visits to Villa Park in the top flight; The exception was a record 7-2 defeat in the Premier League in October 2020. The Reds are the only warring sides Emery has faced as a manager in the Premier League without ever winning.
Villa is one point away from equalling the club’s Premier League records of 21 wins and thirteen home wins in a season, both set in 1992-93.
Our Villa reporter, John Townley, will bring you team news and live updates from Villa Park that evening.
Emery told Sky Sports: “We’re very proud of the season. At the moment it is enough to finish fourth. We will prepare for Sunday’s match against Crystal Palace. Even after scoring both goals, we had chances. We celebrate the season here. with our enthusiasts at Villa Park.
“We think about ourselves. We’ll get ready for Sunday’s game, it’s all in our hands.
“Jhon Durán is a special player. We’ll have to try to help him. He’s a smart guy and he wants a team for himself. It meets our requirements. He was very clinical and today was vital for him.
“Today we celebrate with our fans, we have to go further, keep running and be consistent. We’ve been consistent all season. The team was mature and consistent in our minds. Little by little, we got there. “
Check out villa ratings HERE
McGinn to Sky Sports: “It’s a brilliant effort towards the end. We were a bit lucky. It’s been a few weeks with guys coming back and pushing through the pain barrier. This position allowed us to continue.
“Big Jhon [Duran] is a little crazy sometimes, it’s a nightmare to play against him. I don’t think it’s going to be complicated for us as players.
“Some of us have never been close to the Champions League in our lives. The coach has an unjustified mentality. People wrote us off and we floated on the radar. We’ll have our Manchester City shirts on our shoulders tomorrow. “
Tielemans to Sky Sports: “We created chances but didn’t score. They gave us the equaliser and we fought until the end and that’s the most important thing. Unfortunately, we couldn’t score more, we felt we deserved more in the match. First partido. Mitad. No it’s luck, but we’re going to cast lots.
“We are in this fourth position and we have to maintain it. We just have to thank the fans, you can feel the atmosphere of the club. The fans have been amazing all season and it’s no surprise that we have a home record this time around. season. season. “
It’s over at Villa Park. What a comeback from Villa!
Jhon Duran! He scored a brace off Holte End to seal the delayed game at Villa Park.
Jhon Durán saves a goal from Villa. Il beats Alisson from the edge of the box.
80 – Zaniolo is now injured. Luiz is hooked and Chambers and Durán replace them.
84 – Villa looked fluid and dangerous for 60 minutes, but created very little in the final 15 minutes.
65 – Zaniolo replaces Tielemans. The Belgian inspired tonight but had an hour of play after returning from injury.
55 – Watkins blocks Alisson’s pass, which ends up at Diaby’s feet. He sent it back to Watkins, but the striker decided to move the ball into goal because it was facing the wrong direction. Villa may have scored five in some the other night given the chances they created.
Ollie Watkins thought he had reduced Villa’s deficit after catching a cross from Bailey, but the winger was offside. Aimless.
Liverpool increase their lead. Jarell Quansah goes to Harvey Elliott’s loose kick.
Villa will wonder how far behind they are at half-time. Youri Tielemans scored on both sides of Liverpool’s two avoidable goals, before Diego Carlos missed a goalkeeper and Moussa Diaby burst into flames after confronting Alisson.
Half one notes: Martinez 4, Konsa 6, Carlos 5, Pau 6, Digne 6, Tielemans 8, Luiz 7, Bailey 7, McGinn 7, Diaby 7, Watkins 7.
43 – Villa may have scored 4 times in this half. Diaby made it through the head-to-head with Alisson, but his effort exceeded the bar. I just needed a little composure!
34 – McGinn makes his way into the box, but with the ball caught in his path, he can’t be in a position to let go of fire.
34 – Tielemans gets to the ball well before Digne wins a loose shot following a foul by Salah.
35 – Bailey gets kicked down the right and wins a loose shot. He may continue to limp.
35 – McGinn’s free kick is cleared, but Villa stays alive. Bailey runs down the wing and sends the ball to Carlos, but fails to touch the empty goal from about two meters away. Actually, it was harder to fail him.
Liverpool regained the lead thanks to Cody Gakpo. I hit the far post.
20 – Bailey plays a wonderful ball to Watkins, but the striker fails to convert. He tries to finish it to the far corner, but his attempt is blocked. Diaby looked for the ball to cross the area.
21 – Diaby finds Bailey inside the box, but can’t get any buys on his shot. Villa in the most sensible for now.
17 – Bailey combines with Diaby to win a corner for Villa.
17 – Luiz’s cross was cleared first. McGinn then passed it back to Digne on the left, but his cross was cleared through the Liverpool defence.
18 – Villa absorbed Liverpool’s pressure to unleash some other attack. Digne liked to attack the channel and instead kept the ball. It was a frantic start at Villa Park.
Youri Tielemans restored parity for Aston Villa by putting Alisson ahead after Ollie Watkins played down the left.
8 – Villa will have to regain his composure now. Liverpool dominated the ball in the first 10 minutes.
9 – The crowd promptly covered Martinez chanting “Emi Martinez, the world number one. “
9 – Diaby does well to locate the box on the right and shoots the ball across the box, but Bailey hits the ball against his own leg and scores. Best from Villa.
4 – Salah beats Digne and scores the goal. Their effort goes way off.
5 – Gakpo then comes out of the box after Liverpool recycle the corner.
5 – The winners started very quickly. Villa will need to make sure he doesn’t send any others in the next few minutes.
Emi Martinez is a screamer. He knocked Harvey Elliott’s deflected cross into the net.
Unai Emery’s team will face the North Stand in the first half and head to Holte End in the second half.
I’ll bring you updates every few minutes from B6. . .
Fate is in Aston Villa’s hands tonight: a win confirms their position in the Champions League for next season. Without qualifying, they would go straight to the new “league format”. While this is an incentive to make one last big feature at Villa Park this season, the important thing is that Emery’s players focus on the task at hand and get it done. Yes, there is a strong possibility that Man City will defeat Tottenham on Tuesday, but nothing can be guaranteed in football.
Kick off for kickoff. . .
“I think it’s clear that the guys want a boost. However, the enthusiasts have been there over the past few weeks and now it’s up to us to hang in there. You can wave as many scarves as you want, shout our names as loud as you can. “You want to, but it’s up to us to locate that chimney and cross the finish line.
“We are incredibly disappointed. We did it. We know. But we’ll be informed, and we’ll come back bigger and more powerful next year.
“It’s something that affects the product on the ground. It affects all fans. Our goal is to solve this problem, but it’s going to take a lot of time, a lot of effort, and a lot of replacements as we expand. In our business, we make an analogy with FFP: we have an exercise that’s on the football side and an exercise that’s on the business side.
“Exercise in the football aspect goes at lightning speed and that’s a smart thing to do. The advertising aspect has to jump into this exercise. We work 24 hours a day to verify, close sponsorship deals, replace the stadium so it’s monetary fair play. Finding new sources of profit, getting our intelligence internally and things of that nature.
“The sponsorship expansion has doubled, in line with our 3 main assets: the front of the shirt, the uniform supplier and the sleeve sponsor. These agreements are huge. We’re excited to close those deals this summer and will have a foundation to grow. this business with those sponsors. As we uploaded more sponsors, we uploaded more nuances with the stadium, seating, and high-end merchandising.
“Whenever you read articles in other U. S. media outlets, it’s about other teams,” Hanks said on the sidelines. “You get the ones in red. But it’s smart to read about Aston Villa.
“I was here for the first time a year ago and it was magical. Every time I’m in the UK, I check my schedule to see if I can make it to Villa Park and it turned out that maybe I can see Villa make history tonight. . In the most sensible part of the Villa!
“We’re very close. But we just have to concentrate on Monday night. I think we owe a functionality to the fans. We owe ourselves a functionality after the effort of the season, the work of each coming day. It’s been a long and difficult season, with a lot still on the way, but definitely one we can be proud of.
“We don’t need to be left dry. We know what we have to do. It’s in our hands. It’s going to be a very, very difficult game, we know that. It is clear that we have the very important merit of others. “Prospective results, but we have to do our homework ourselves and get to the most sensible four, which would be an incredible achievement and possibly wouldn’t eliminate tonight’s disappointment.
“Aston Villa want a win in their last two games to secure fourth place,” Sutton told BBC Sport. “I’m not sure they’re going to get it here, but they probably don’t want it, because the Spurs are not going to catch them now.
“I’m not convinced through Liverpool either, but they create chances and deserve to have some goals in this game. “
Sutton Prediction: 2-2