A. Villa – Liverpool 31.03.2013

Aston Villa is in good form at the moment. They managed to win the last two Premier League matches a 2:1 win over Reading and a 3:2 victory against QPR. Gabriel Agbonlahor and Christian Benteke were the scorers against Reading, while the same two plus Andreas Weimann netted against QPR. It’s the first back-to-back wins this season for Paul Lambert’s team.

Lambert announced very offensive 4-3-3 formation, with Agbonlahor, Benteke and Weimann in the attack. Agbonlahor needs just one goal to equal Dwight Yorke’s record of 60 for the club in the Premier League. As You can see above, he scored in his last two games. His confidence is very high at the moment. Benteke has been one of the best players this season, he is the team leading goalscorer with 13 goals. Weimann is improving all the season, he scored 6 goals so far and attract the interest of many big teams as he enters the last year of his contract.

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But Aston Villa defense is far from good, they have received 56 goals so far. Only Reading have worse record with 57 goals conceded. To be even worse, Villa have not kept a clean sheet since before Christmas.

Darren Bent, Nathan Baker and Karim El Ahmadi are back from injury, while Fabian Delph returns from suspension. Ciaran Clark and Brett Holman suffered injuries on international duty and will be assessed.

Liverpool have another disappointed season. The fans are frustrated, they are dreaming about the title, Champions League and similar things. Many coaches were changed in the past few years (Rafa Benitez, Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish and Brandon Rodgers), but no result. This season is no exception at all, Liverpool is out of the top four. Even UEFA Europe League seems far away at the moment. However, Rodgers position is not in question and that’s positive according to me.

Liverpool manager has one bad news. Joe Allen will miss the remainder of the season after dislocated the shoulder playing for the national team. In addition, Martin Kelly and Fabio Borini are also sidelined.

Liverpool is the third highest scoring team in Premier league so far this season. The Reds have scored 57 goals and only Manchester United and Chelsea have netted more. At this point I will mention that Liverpool have played efficient matches in the last period. The previous four games have finished with Over 3.5 goals.

Luis Suarez is ready, he will try to extend his record of 22 goals. Manchester United striker Robin van Persie scored against Sunderland and came two goals to Suarez. I believe the Uruguayan striker will enter the match fully motivated.

The reverse fixture between the two sides played at Anfield finished with 3:1 Villa win. Christian Benteke was double scorer, while Andreas Weimann and Steven Gerrard (for Liverpool) scored the remaining goals.

I expect another high scoring match at Villa Park.