Aston Villa travel to Merseyside on Saturday to take on possibly one of the best teams in Europe right now in Liverpool.
Steven Gerrard’s side recorded a 2-1 win against Leicester City last time out and they have won three out of the four games he has been in charge of.
The games are now set to come thick and fast in the Premier League, so Gerrard might just ring the changes ahead of a very busy month of football for all involved.
We are predicting teenage talent Carney Chukwuemeka to start ahead of Douglas Luiz at Anfield, after his impressive cameo off the bench against the Foxes, and the Brazilian’s quite poor first-half showing.
The 18-year-old has one Premier League start to his name and that came under Dean Smith when Villa recorded a 1-1 draw against Brentford.
The highly-rated talent is rumoured to be attracting interest from Liverpool, which should be seen as a compliment from Villa’s side that they have a top, top talent in their ranks.
The other change that could be made is Emiliano Buendia making way for Anwar El Ghazi to add some freshness out wide.
Gerrard has opted to start more of his ball-carriers and playmakers, including when making substitutions, since he joined, which has meant little time for someone like El Ghazi.
He has had to resort to two appearances from the bench since Gerrard took over – six minutes against Brighton and then 13 minutes at Selhurst Park.
Whilst Gerrard will no doubt have his full focus on setting his team up for the weekend game, from a fitness perspective, he will need to be wary of their trip to Norwich City on Tuesday night and then Burnley the following Saturday.
In terms of the squad, Danny Ings could return to the bench for Villa after being touch-and-go for Leicester, so that will be another boost if that happens.
Either way, this is a real chance for Villa to make their first proper statement under Gerrard and secure all three points.
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