ASTONVILLAVLIVERPOOL

Match insight

Neither side carries a table edge into this one — Aston Villa and Liverpool look evenly matched on what's actually in front of them. Liverpool currently sit 7 places and 4 points above Aston Villa in the table — 9th against 16th. Aston Villa have taken 5 points from their last 5, against 8 for Liverpool over the same stretch. Worth flagging: Aston Villa sit well below what our metrics imply, roughly 6 places under their underlying-strength rank.