This weekend City showed their resilience.<\/p>\r\n

Now Liverpool Football Club will need to do the same.\u00a0All of us suffered a gut punch on Saturday, and that certainly includes the players and manager.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After the disappointing draw against Spurs, LFC\u2019s hopes of a 20th league title have gone from hopeful to slim. But slim is not none, and the Reds need to show resolve to keep that dim flame burning. City can lose. The Reds can (again) overtake them on goal difference. But none of that matters unless Liverpool also win their final three league matches. And, they tell me you can\u2019t win \u2018em all unless you win the first one. Thus, the Reds face yet another must-win game. Ho hum.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u00a0On paper, this one is easier than the last one. Villa has had a decent season since hiring Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, but no one will confuse them with being great. On the season, Aston Villa have scored 47 and conceded 47. \u00a0It\u2019s hard to get more mediocre than that. They have some talented players, included LFC\u2019s own former magician, Phillippe Coutinho, as well as former Liverpool striker Danny Ings.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When these two teams met at Anfield in December, the Reds squeaked by with a 1-0 victory. Gerrard, unsurprisingly, parked a large bus in the penalty area. Their defense stifled Liverpool most of the match, and also created a few scary counterattacking opportunities for themselves. The game’s only goal came on a 67th minute penalty from Mohamed Salah. In essence, in December Villa played LFC exactly the same way that Spurs just did. \u00a0Villa\u2019s players, of course, aren\u2019t as good as Tottenham\u2019s. And, Gerrard is much less experienced than Conte. But their game plans were essentially the same against Liverpool. I expect the same again tomorrow.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Liverpool should rotate some tomorrow, to maximize their freshness for the FA Cup final on Saturday. \u00a0I\u2019ll guess that Thiago and Fabinho both go to the bench for this one. \u00a0I expect Matip to return to the lineup tomorrow, although I don\u2019t know whether to expect him or Konat\u00e9 to start against Chelsea. Robertson got a bit of a rest at the end of the match Saturday, so I\u2019ll guess that he starts this one, but Gomez comes in for Trent on the other side.\u00a0
Predicted lineup:
<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I\u2019ll guess that this game will be slightly more open than the reverse fixture at Anfield. \u00a0I also think the Reds are likely to lose concentration at some points here, as they lick their wounds from Saturday while also subconsciously look forward to the cup final. But, in the end, the mighty Reds will have enough.<\/p>\r\n

Aston Villa 1 – LFC 2\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This weekend City showed their resilience. Now Liverpool Football Club will need to do the same.\u00a0All of us suffered a gut punch on Saturday, and that certainly includes the players and manager.\u00a0 After the disappointing draw against Spurs, LFC\u2019s hopes of a 20th league title have gone from hopeful to slim. But slim is not none, and the Reds need …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[39,17,14,18,23],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-match-previews","tag-aston-villa","tag-lfc","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-liverpool-football-club","tag-premier-league","entry entry-center"],"yoast_head":"\n