Will Klopp’s Boxing Day record remain spotless?
It is well known that Jürgen Klopp is not a great supporter of the deadline rush in English football. But the German coach has nothing but love for the traditional Boxing Day fixture. An interesting statistic underlines this, as his Liverpool side have indeed won all of their last five Boxing Day Premier League matches, compiling an outstanding goal difference of 15-0.
It is well known that Jürgen Klopp is not a great supporter of the deadline day hunt in English football. However, the German coach has nothing but love for the traditional Boxing Day fixture. This is underlined by an interesting statistic, as his Liverpool side have indeed won all of their last five Boxing Day Premier League matches, compiling an outstanding goal difference of 15-0 in the process..
Last season, Spanish coach Unai Emery made a splash in the Champions League with Villarreal, but he has been in charge of the Villans for just under two months now. In his first two PL games in his new role, Steven Gerrard’s successor immediately celebrated two victories. In the following paragraphs, we will stringently explain why we are predicting a three-goal win between Aston Villa and Liverpool.
Aston Villa – statistics & current form
Sometimes it simply takes a change of coach to bring about a positive effect. Aston Villa officials also felt as though Steven Gerrard was no longer the right fit for the job. But the fact that the owners of an Egyptian company managed to buy Unai Emery, an absolutely renowned and multi-award-winning coach, out of an ongoing contract at Villarreal was definitely a surprising coup.
So far, though, the swap in the coaching chair has paid off, with the Villans winning both of their first two Premier League matches under the former Arsenal and Paris St Germain coach. Emery could now actually become the first coach in the club’s history to start his tenure with three wins in England’s top flight.
Aston Villa are tough to beat at home
Optimistic, among other things, is the good record on the most recent Boxing Days. After all, four of the past six league games were won on Boxing Day. In the pre-season, however, there was a 1:3 against Chelsea. The Blues and West Ham United were also the only two teams to take three points from Villa Park in the current season.
The bottom line, however, is that the Blues have four wins from seven home games, especially since the twelfth-placed team has also hosted Manchester United (3:1) and Manchester City (1:1). Only against Southampton and Brentford did they keep their clean sheet at home in the form of conceding zero goals.
Emilian Martinez hasn’t finished celebrating yet
For this reason, among others, it is definitely worth considering odds on both teams to score between Aston Villa and Liverpool. These are currently in the region of 1.60 and can be combined with double chance X2, as at the end of the day it must not be forgotten that Villa have lost eight of their last nine PL matches against the Reds and also have one or two important absentees to deal with.
World Cup-winning keeper Emiliano Martinez will be missing, as will Brazilian defender Diego Carlos and compatriot Philippe Coutinho. Boubacar Kamara, meanwhile, could return to the double-six after recovering from injury.
Predicted line-up of Aston Villa:
Olsen; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Kamara, Luiz; Buendia, Ings, Bailey
Last matches played by Aston Villa:
Club friendlies
16/12/2022 – Aston Villa 0 – 1 FC Villarreal
11/12/2022 – Chelsea FC 0 – 1 Aston Villa
08/12/2022 – Aston Villa 2 – 2 Brighton
01/12/2022 – Cardiff 3 – 1 Aston Villa
Premier League
13/11/2022 – Brighton 1 – 2 Aston Villa
Liverpool – Statistics & current form
No sooner had the World Cup break ended than Liverpool Football Club suffered another disappointment in the League Cup. Despite a decent performance, the Reds lost 3-2 away to Manchester City on Thursday night and buried their hopes of successfully defending their EFL Cup title.
In the coming weeks and months, the Premier League will be the top priority for the top club from Merseyside, as they try to make up for their failure in the first third of the season and close the gap on the Champions League. LFC are currently only in sixth place in the standings. They are seven points behind Tottenham, although they still have a game in hand on the fourth-placed side.
Do the Reds manage a third Premier League win in a row?
A first concrete and helpful approach would be to get back to their old strength away from home, as only one of the six away games so far this season has been victorious. Two draws, three defeats and a total of only seven goals scored round off the sobering result, which is only good enough for 14th position in the away table. However, because the Reds won the last two Premier League matches in November, they could now achieve three wins in a row for the first time this season.
On a positive note, the Reds have won five in a row on Boxing Day, all without conceding a goal. Only Mauricio Pochettino has a better Boxing Day record than Jürgen Klopp. By the way, we think it is unlikely that a potential away win can be achieved including a clean sheet, as LFC have only managed a defensive zero on four occasions so far this season. It might even be an option to bet on over-goals.
Should things get spectacular, a certain Mo Salah could of course also be a goal scorer. The Egyptian is rested and with six goals currently the second best scorer of the Klopp eleven behind Roberto Firmino. However, there is still a question mark over the Brazilian’s use. Otherwise, the ex-Dortmund player will be able to field a strong team, as only seven players had to be sent off to the World Cup anyway and Boxing Day is traditionally given a lot of attention and motivation.
Predicted Liverpool line-up:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Nunez, Carvalho
Last matches played by Liverpool:
Carabao Cup
23/12/2022 – Manchester City 3 – 2 Liverpool FC
Club friendlies
16/12/2022 – Liverpool FC 4 – 1 AC Milan
11/12/2022 – Liverpool FC 1 – 3 Lyon
Premier League
12/11/2022 – Liverpool FC 3 – 1 Southampton
Carabao Cup
10/11/2022 – Liverpool FC (3)0 – 0(2) Derby
Aston Villa – Liverpool Direct Comparison / H2H Balance
The match between Aston Villa and Liverpool is a true evergreen in English football. There have been a whopping 186 encounters in the highest football league in the motherland of football alone. Incidentally, no other Premier League pairing has had more away victories than this one. Moreover, the Reds have won almost 92 league games against the Villans. Only Arsenal have had more success against Everton (99).
Looking at the recent past, however, it is far more exciting that LFC have won eight of the last nine head-to-head duels. Last year’s 2-1 win at Villa Park was one of seven PL away victories in the last eight visits to Birmingham. Perhaps that is why the odds are so heavily in favour of the sixth-placed side ahead of the Aston Villa v Liverpool game.
Aston Villa – Liverpool Tip
Unai Emery vs Jürgen Klopp. This is the coaching duel on Boxing Day. The Spanish coach will meet the Reds from Liverpool, who are limping behind their own expectations, in his third Premier League game as the new manager of Aston Villa. Twelfth in the table, who have won twice recently with Emery on the sidelines, against sixth-placed Aston Villa, who may benefit from being back in action on Thursday. For the Villans, meanwhile, it will be their first competitive match after more than a month off.
This is one of the reasons why lower betting odds are being offered on an away win between Aston Villa and Liverpool. At first glance, these even seem a little too low, as LFC have only won a single away game in the current PL season and Aston Villa have already scored at home against Man United and Man City.
However, we share the assessment of the best bookmakers and try it before the evergreen Aston Villa vs Liverpool with the tip on the victory of the Klopp eleven. The German coach has won all of his Boxing Day games so far and is also banking on the fact that his club have won eight of their last nine head-to-head clashes and there has never been more away victories in the English top flight than in this one.
