Aston Villa vs. Liverpool Betting Tips: Both teams to find the net at Villa Park
Aston Villa take on Liverpool live on Amazon Prime on Boxing Day and our man Tipster Wizard is on hand to preview the action and provide us with his best bets.
The hosts sit 12th in the league table with 18 points going into this game while Liverpool sit 6th with 22 points, 4pts away from the Champions League spots with a game in hand.
Both teams were on a two game win-streak before the World Cup break, with Aston Villa beating Manchester United & Brighton, under their new manager Unai Emery and Liverpool getting the better of Tottenham & Southampton.
Aston Villa only had four players at the World Cup compared to Liverpool’s seven and played four friendlies during the break to prepare for the resumption of the season.
Liverpool played two friendlies, winning 4-1 against AC Milan and losing 3-1 to Lyon before going out to Manchester City in the EFL Cup fourth round in a narrow 3-2 loss. Klopp rested most of the players who were involved in the World Cup but they should be all back for this game to help them get back into the Champions League spots.
Trips to Villa Park have not been easy for Liverpool in recent history, with Aston Villa scoring in each of their last five home games against Liverpool. Klopp’s men managed to do a double over Aston Villa last season but only managed to beat them by a 1 goal margin each time. This will certainly not be a walk in the park for the visitors and I am expecting a toughly contested clash which is very tough to call which is why I will be steering well clear of result-based bets in my preview.
A thrilling boxing day clash awaits us, and as usual I have you covered with two of my best betting angles below:
Team News:
Diego Carlos, Coutinho & Emi Martinez are out for Aston Villa.
Arthur, Curtis Jones, Luis Diaz, Ibrahima Konate, Diogo Jota & Firmino are out for Liverpool while Milner is doubtful.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Olsen; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Kamara, Luiz; McGinn, Ramsey; Ings, Buendia
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Allison; Trent, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Thiago, Fabinho, Henderson; Carvalho, Nunez, Salah
Aston Villa vs Liverpool Tips
- Both Teams To Score & Darwen Nunez Over 1.5 Shots - @ 5/6 bet365
- Both Teams To Score in Both Halves - @ 11/1 - bet365
Both teams have scored in four of their last five head to head meetings. Aston Villa have made a solid start under their new manager Unai Emery, winning both games against Manchester United & Brighton scoring five goals in the process.
Liverpool have conceded at least one goal in their last four consecutive Premier League games and with their defenders coming back from the World Cup, there could be some fatigue which Aston Villa will be looking to take advantage of.
Despite the recent positive results, Aston Villa have only managed to keep a clean sheet once in their last seven Premier League games and Liverpool have the attacking firepower to score at least once here so the “Both teams to score” selection makes perfect sense.
As for the 2nd selection, Darwin Nunez averages almost 4 shots per game for Liverpool and has had at least 2 shots in 100% of his starts for the club this season. Combining these two selections gives us a solid Bet Builder @ 5/6 and I am happy to stake 1pt on that as our main bet for this boxing day clash.
Following on from my reasoning of the main bet, I expect an entertaining game with plenty of goal-mouth action at both ends so taking a slightly more ambitious approach and backing both teams to score in both halves at a huge price of 11/1 with a small 0.25pt stake.
This bet landed in Liverpool’s last game against Manchester City a few days ago and I am hoping we can land both preview bets for a profitable boxing day!
Did you know that bet365 pay your team out as a winner if they go 2 goals ahead at any time in the match (available on over 80 leagues and competitions, T&C's apply). Find out more on our bet365 offers page.