Liverpool v Aston Villa: Hardy visitors may take a while to break down | OneFootball

English Premier League

Arne Slot has won 14 of 16 games as Liverpool boss, but has sometimes had to be patient

Liverpool are flying under Arne Slot, but Kevin Hatchard believes they may take a while to overcome Aston Villa on Saturday night.

Liverpool v Aston VillaSaturday 09 November, 20:00

Anfield power on display against old friend

Xabi Alonso was serenaded by the Kop on Tuesday, but only after his Bayer Leverkusen side had been dismantled 4-0, as Liverpool maintained their 100% record in the Champions League. Former Reds great Alonso saw his German champions compete for an hour, but Arne Slot's Liverpool seem to have this ability to move up a gear or two to simply blow teams away before they have realised what is happening.

Luis Diaz netted a hat-trick against Leverkusen, and the Colombian now has nine goals in 15 games this season. Midfielder Curtis Jones also stood out, as his slide-rule pass set up a wonderful opener, and backup keeper Caoimhin Kelleher produced another solid display, keeping his sheet clean with two excellent late stops.

Slot has won 14 of his first 16 games in charge in all competitions, and Liverpool are top of the Premier League and the Champions League on merit. In their last two home games against Brighton and Bayer Leverkusen, the Anfield crowd recognised when the ream needed a push, and acted accordingly. It's easy to be cliched and schmaltzy about the "Anfield factor", but there's too much evidence of it to deny its efficacy or indeed its existence.

Liverpool have now reeled off six straight home wins in all competitions, and they have scored at least twice in all of those victories. They have only drawn a blank once all season, and that was in the 1-0 home loss to Nottingham Forest back in mid-September.

It remains to be seen how heavily Slot will rotate his squad ahead of the international break. Andy Robertson hopes to return ahead of Kostas Tsimikas at left-back, while Dominik Szoboszlai is a midfield alternative to Jones. Liverpool used Diaz as a centre-forward on Tuesday, but Darwin Nunez could return.

Mings meltdown cost Villa dearly

There is often a cruelty in sport that adds to the drama, whether we like it or not. Tyrone Mings, who has made the journey from Chippenham to Champions League, should have been celebrating his first start in Europe's premier competition. However, with the score deadlocked at 0-0 at Club Brugge, the Aston Villa centre-back completely lost concentration as he picked up a ball from Emi Martinez and simply handed it back to the bewildered goalkeeper.

A penalty was the necessary conclusion, and Club Brugge skipper Hans Vanaken drilled in the spot-kick to give the Belgians a 1-0 victory. To make matters worse, Mings is rebuilding his Villa career after a long spell out with a knee injury. Villa boss Unai Emery called it the biggest mistake he had seen in his long coaching career.

There has to be some perspective here, as Villa won their first three UCL matches and are still on course for the knockout phase, if not the top eight. But the loss in Bruges came hot on the heels of a surprising second-half collapse at Tottenham in a 4-1 Premier League defeat, as well as a careless exit from the Carabao Cup at home to out-of-form Crystal Palace. That means Villa have won just two of their last seven matches.

Villa's demolition at the hands of Spurs was a real shock, as Emery's team had made a brilliant start on the road, winning three and drawing one of their first four away games in the top flight. But the West Midlands team was pulled apart in the second half by Ange Postecoglou's swashbuckling team, who turned a 1-0 half-time deficit into a 4-1 victory.

Pau Torres could return to centre-back in place of Mings, while Amadou Onana and Jacob Ramsey hope to be restored to the starting XI.

Liverpool may take a while to warm up

If you look at Liverpool's season so far, they have been a team that grows into games under Slot. Against Brighton last weekend the Reds could've gone two or three goals down in the first half, but they recovered from the early concession of a goal to win the game in the second half.

Villa will set up to be compact and frustrate, and while I wouldn't be surprised to see Liverpool eventually come through and win the game, we could lay the Reds in the Half Time market at 1.83. Liverpool have been level or behind at the break in seven of their 16 matches this term. Villa have only trailed at half-time twice this season in all competitions.

Salah can be a central figure again

Whether this will be Mohamed Salah's final season as a Liverpool player or not, no-one can deny his consistent impact on the Reds' season. He has already delivered seven goals and five assists in ten Premier League appearances, and has been involved in five goals in the Champions League.

We could back Salah to score at evens on the Sportsbook, but if Villa are going to be stubborn opponents we can actually use the Bet Builder to get us a price of 6/5 without having to back him to score.

We only need the Egyptian to have three shots or more (he has done this in seven of his ten PL games this term), have a shot on target (nine out of ten in the PL) and be fouled (nine of ten PL games).

Recommended bets