Wednesday night showdown 

©Imago/Content stadium

While the Champions League play-off games will be hoarding the attention of most football fans across the world, many Premier League supporters will instead opt to tune into an important clash at Villa Park on Wednesday night. In what could prove to be a crucial fixture that dictates the destination of this season’s league title, Arne Slot’s Liverpool make the trip south to take on an Aston Villa side that will be hoping to get their own aspirations for this season back on track with all three points. But how much hope do the Villans have in beating their Anfield rivals? 

Since taking over the club in November 2022, Unai Emery has done well to get Villa back into a position of challenging for European qualification. In his first season at the club, Villa climbed to seventh in the league table only to then claim fourth last season in what was their highest ever ranking in the Premier League since 1995. However, this season has seen the club struggle with the demands of the English top-flight and competing against the very best in the Champions League, as Emery’s team have spent much of the current campaign outside the top six. However, that’s not to say that this team aren’t still capable of locking horns with the biggest and best and walking away with points in their back pocket. 

Despite their struggle to maintain the necessary consistency to stay in the top four, Villa have beaten Manchester City 2-1, along with draws with Arsenal and Manchester United in the league this season, as well as a 2-1 win over Tottenham in the fourth round of the FA Cup. And when we look at their overall record against the league’s “Big Six” under Emery we can see that the club have picked up plenty of big scalps under the Spaniard. In total, Villa have won 11, drawn six and lost 15 encounters against the six clubs in question during Emery’s time in charge of the club. As the table above illustrates, Tottenham have been Villa’s most favoured foes with four wins and just two defeats from six games. Surprisingly, Emery has also enjoyed a record of 1.5 points per game against Man City, having won two and lost two. The club have also matched Arsenal and Chelsea, with as many victories over both teams as they’ve suffered defeats. 

When we narrow in on Villa’s home record in front of their own fans, we can see that Emery’s side have typically favoured playing at Villa Park over away grounds. While their overall points per game average against the “Big Six” stands at 1.22 in all games, that figure then rises to 1.4 when we account for only home matches. Here, Emery’s side have won 2/2 games against Man City and 2/3 against Tottenham. And despite their inconsistent form this season, in four home matches against the aforementioned six Premier League foes, Villa have lost just once. But that may not be enough for Emery’s side to rely upon in the forthcoming game. 

Unfortunately for Villa fans ahead of Wednesday night’s clash, the one team that seems to continuously elude them under Emery are Liverpool. In five games against the Anfield club, Villa have picked up just two draws and three defeats, with an average of just 0.4 points per game. However, should Emery’s side take a point against Liverpool in the upcoming match, it may be seen as something of an achievement considering the impressive form of Slot’s team this season. And two points dropped by the Reds would certainly be celebrated in parts of North London and be seen as a serious dent in Liverpool’s march to the league title.