The Premier League’s weekend action draws to a close this Monday as Liverpool take on Aston Villa at Anfield. Who will take all three points?

Aston Villa v Liverpool

The final game of matchday sixteen in the Premier League sees twelfth placed Liverpool take on sixteenth placed Aston Villa in what promises to be an intriguing match. Who do the bookies will walk away with the spoils? Bet365 make Liverpool the 1.57 favourites to collect all three points, with an Aston Villa win available at 6.50 and the draw can be backed at odds of 3.80.

This season has not been a good season for Liverpool and with manager changes and the club being taken over, they have won just four of their opening fifteen games. However, they have collected a total of nineteen points in the league and thanks to the closeness of the league this season, a win in this match will send them rocketing up the table to seventh place. Their home form has been good recently and they have won all of their last three home games against Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea and West Ham. For this game they are missing both Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher through injury and Fernando Torres is still not hitting the heights that he can do when in form, so will they continue in their winning form?

Aston Villa are very much out of form at the moment and they are without a win in four matches after drawing 2-2 with Manchester United and losing 2-0 to Blackburn and 4-2 to Arsenal in the league as well as being eliminated by their biggest rivals Birmingham City in the Carling Cup. They are showing some good possession football, keeping the ball well and making chances, but they are failing to convert those chances into enough goals to win matches. Their away league form has seen them lose five of seven games on the road, beating just Wolves and also collecting a point against Fulham. That draw with Fulham came three games ago and that is their only point in four away league matches since beating Wolves at the end of September. Can they take advantage of Liverpool’s injury worries to secure just second away win of the season?

Head-to-head things do not look good for Villa as they have won just two of the twenty matches that these sides have played since 2000. Of the other eighteen games played in that time, Liverpool have won twelve and six have ended level. However, the last Villa win against Liverpool came at Anfield last season as the Midland side triumphed 3-1 and they will be looking for a repeat performance as their former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier looks to make a triumphant return to Anfield. How will the game go though?

With Liverpool missing Carragher in defence, we feel that they will be vulnerable to the speed of Aston Villa’s attacking players and with Paul Konchesky, especially, having a shocking season we can easily see Villa getting on the scoresheet. Liverpool also have to be backed to find the net at home with the trickery and skill of Torres, as well as the hard working Kuyt pushing forwards. We also feel that neither of these two sides has much, if any, advantage over each other and that they are likely to cancel each other out and we see a draw here, so these two bets are where we are putting our money this Monday night.

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We Recommend:

·         Back Liverpool v Aston Villa to end as a draw @ 3.80

• Back both sides to score in the match @ 1.91