Aston Villa manager Unai Emery says his side must be ready to face ‘the best team in the Premier League and Europe’ when leaders Liverpool come to Villa Park on Wednesday night.
Villa fell six points behind the top four after drawing at home to Ipswich at the weekend, with Emery saying that a return to the Champions League remains the aim.
New signings Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio could both feature while Emery struggles with injury problems in defence.
He said: “For me as a coach Liverpool is a big challenge, a challenge of how we can collectively set our game plan against them. It’s the most difficult match we are going to play for the last weeks and months.
⚡️ pic.twitter.com/qNPdCerC1J
— Premier League (@premierleague) February 15, 2025
“Liverpool are the best team in the Premier League and Europe. Our challenge is how we face them and respond with our qualities and how we play at this level.
“We are excited and hopefully we can share our excited moments with our fans at Villa Park.”
Villa have won just one of their last 14 Premier League games against Liverpool, albeit a 7-2 victory at Villa Park in October 2020.
A repeat – or three points, anyway – would put Villa back in the mix for a European place in a race that looks likely to go to the wire again.
“We are being positive but we are excited and we are performing in the right direction,” Emery said.
“We need more points in case we want to achieve the biggest demand and objective we can have, which is to be in the Champions League.”
Team news
Midfielder/defender Boubacar Kamara is out after he came off early against Ipswich, while Villa could include forward Leon Bailey and defenders Ezri Konsa and Matty Cash in the squad.
Emery on Kamara: “He was ready to play with some problem in his back, but the injury was not coming from his back, it’s his hamstring. He is trying to analyse and meet with the doctors and physios a lot and how we can get better. Exactly why, it’s difficult.”
On Tyrone Mings’ return from injury: “Mings is a very important player, his comeback has been very good and he’s performing very well. He had a small stop in his recovery but he played on Saturday and tomorrow we will need him available. He is a very important player because he is one of the captains and a leader in the defence.”
