Coming off the back of a character building win at Upton Park on Sunday we host Aston Villa at home in a rarity for us, a Saturday 3 o'clock kick off.
The win at West Ham is being described by many as a turning point for our season and the moment when we will kick on to challenge the upper tier of the table. But that is entirely in our own hands and failure to get a result here will mean recent efforts have been in vain.
A win for us could potentially put us up to 7th
We are in better form than Villa coming in to this with 3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss in our last 6 league games. Villa on the other hand come to Anfield with 1 win in their last 6, 2 losses and 3 draws. They managed to hold Arsenal to a draw at home but they also got hammered 5-0 by City away. They're not travelling well this season with just one away win and one draw so far in the league.
Arsenal and Manchester United are the only teams to get all 3 points at Anfield this season and only 2 teams have kept clean sheets at Anfield (Arsenal and Stoke).
Last season this match ended in a 1-1 draw after Villa opened the scoring. We were the better team that day but just didn't have our scoring boots on. Suarez managed to get one back in the last 10 mins for us. However in the last 5 meetings at Anfield we have won 2, drawn 2 and lost 1. Although in the last 10meetings between both sides at Anfield and Villa Park we have won 50% of the matches, whilst Villa have won only 2 of the last 10.
We're coming into this with back-to-back league wins for the first time this season, add in to that an away win in Italy in the Europa League. We have to be gaining confidence from that and I want to see the team show that. Suarez returning is of course a boost for our attack, Lucas likewise has reinvigorated the midfield, and I think since returning from injury Pepe Reina has put in some quality performances. Villa also have a league cup game against Norwich tonight, Lambert won't want to lose to his old team so I wold expect a strong enough team from him,and that is something we need to be taking advantage of.I want to see this reflected in the way we go at Villa, we're at home, we're finding form, we're gaining confidence, go out and show these exactly who we are and what we mean!
My line up would be;
Subs; Jones, Carragher, Wisdom, Henderson, Shelvey, Cole, Allen
I think it's pretty self explanitory? As far as I know Enrique only had a tightness in his hamstring on Sunday and was taken off as a precaution so should be fine for this. The only real change as such is Sahin in for Allen. I think Allen is looking tired and is making a few more mistakes than usual as of late. A rest won't go astray for him and I think Sahin is better fitted for that role than Shelvey.
For the record I also think Sterling is looking jaded ad could do with a rest but I don't really see any great options to replace him with. I can't see Brendan going with Gerrard as a wide right player with Shelvey heading the mid field. I toyed with the idea of Cole there and I think it would be our best option. But for the time being I think it's better for Raheem to start and we can change it up later on when we have control of the game and the score.
Suso I think would be a better option for this game than Downing,I know he wold be up for playing against his old club but I think Suso would create more problems for them and be more of an attacking threat for us.
I'd like to think that team can go out, perform, and get a result for us against what in all honesty is a weak Villa team. I would go for a 2-0 win, Suarez and Gerrard with the goals.
Apologies if the thread is too soon after the West Ham game, but I'm really looking forward to this one. COYR!
