Third meets fourth in the penultimate round of Premier League fixtures, as Aston Villa and Liverpool square off at Villa Park. While the Reds are already assured of Champions League football for next season ahead of Jurgen Klopp’s final away game, the Lions can join them at Europe’s top table with maximum points.
However, the hosts have lost their Villa Park sparkle after their historic 15-game winning sequence on home field, only prevailing in three of their last eight Premier League contests in front of their own fans, but Emery is yet to oversee back-to-back top-flight defeats in 2023-24.
Furthermore, Emery would officially oversee a record-equalling campaign should he mastermind a victory, which would see the Lions match their 1992-93 highs of 21 Premier League wins overall and 13 at home, but he is yet to beat Liverpool in the Premier League, trying and failing six times in the past.
Sending Spurs back to North London empty-handed mathematically kept Liverpool in the hunt for top-flight glory, but owing to Manchester City’s crushing win over Fulham on Saturday lunchtime, it is now just a two-horse race between the champions and Arsenal.
As the Merseyside outfit mourn their dreams of Premier League supremacy in Klopp’s closing campaign, they can at least prolong a magnificent May unbeaten streak in the German’s last-ever away game in charge; they have gone unbeaten in 18 Premier League games in the current month since going down 1-0 to Chelsea in 2018.
A repeat of October’s astounding 7-2 victory for Aston Villa would put another dampener on Klopp’s farewell, but the Lions have since lost six and drawn one of their last seven contests versus Monday’s visitors, who were convincing 3-0 winners in September’s Anfield encounter and have 16 Premier League away successes to their name against Aston Villa, more than any other opponent.
