At 3:00 a.m. Beijing time on May 11, the 33rd round of the Premier League, Liverpool challenged Villa away. It's a showdown, Klopp vs Gerrard, Coutinho against the old boss... For Liverpool, only victory can preserve the hope of storming the Premier League title.
Premier League Title Judge: Villa played Liverpool + Manchester City in the last 12 days
In the Premier League table, Manchester City have 86 points and 68 goals difference in 35 games, and Liverpool have 83 points and 64 goals difference. For Liverpool, it is extremely difficult to surpass Manchester City to win the title. On this night, Liverpool visited Villa Park, and if they could win 4-0, Klopp's side could temporarily surpass Manchester City and take the top spot.
Villa, who will be in charge of Gerrard, will be the judge of the 2021-22 Premier League title. Villa's last four league games, opponents are Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Burnley, Manchester City - in the last 12 days, Villa will play against Liverpool and Manchester City, as a Liverpool legend Gerrard, is bound to block Manchester City with all his might.
Against Liverpool, Gerrard's attitude was clear: "Liverpool today. Probably the best Liverpool in history. According to the schedule, we will be the judges of the championship competition. My job, though, is to win for Villa, that's my goal. ”
Gerrard in the Liverpool era
For Gerald, his heart is full of mixed feelings. From 1998 to 2015, Gerrard made 710 appearances for Liverpool, scoring 186 goals and is considered the best player in Liverpool's history. Gerrard certainly wants Liverpool to win the title in the end, but as Villa manager, what he has to do is lead the team to win.
Liverpool's life-and-death battle: hitting 3 big records
The next three Premier League games are all life and death battles for Liverpool: losing one of them is likely to mean missing the title. Against Villa, Liverpool will hit three records:
A record of zero seals. Liverpool have kept 21 clean sheets in the Premier League this season, just one game away from the team's all-time Premier League clean sheet record (set in 2005-06).
Away goal record. In this season's Premier League, Liverpool scored 41 goals away from home, ranking third in team history, and with just one more goal, they can equal the 42 goals away from home in 1946-47, rising to second in team history, after the 48 goals away from home in 2013-14.
Unbeaten record of the year. Liverpool in 2022, the Premier League won 13 and drew 3 without losing. Liverpool are also the only unbeaten team in Europe's top 5 leagues of the year.
Liverpool are expected to start
Alisson/Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson/Nabi-Keita, Fabinho, Thiago/Salah, Mane, Jota