Liverpool head to Villa Park on Monday for Jurgen Klopp’s penultimate game as Reds boss against an Aston Villa side desperate to secure their qualification for Champions League football.
Unai Emery’s side need three points to make it mathematically impossible for Tottenham to catch them with only two games left for them to play against Manchester City on Tuesday and then Sheffield United at Brammall Lane on the final day.
Villa will face in-form Crystal Palace on Sunday, but their spot in UEFA’s elite club competition could be confirmed before then. If Villa fail to beat Liverpool, then a defeat for Spurs against title-challengers City could be enough to secure top four for Emery’s men.
A draw for Villa against Liverpool would also be enough as long as Tottenham fail to beat City in North London on Tuesday. While their destiny is in their own hands, Villa will give it their all to claim three points.
Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers and Nicolo Zaniolo are all doubts, while Alex Moreno could return after missing the midweek defeat against Olympiacos.
Liverpool could be without up to five players, who have missed training in the lead up to Monday night’s clash. Diogo Jota and Andy Robertson have both been absent in Liverpool’s preparations, while Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara and Ben Doak are the only other confirmed injury absences at this stage.
They will still take almost a full squad to Villa Park after Stefan Bajcetic returned from injury during the win over Spurs and Virgil van Dijk passed a late fitness test to feature.
In his pre-match press conference, Klopp moved to praise young defender Jarrel Quansah, perhaps suggesting he will start alongside captain Virgil van Dijk.
“Jarell is training really well and we have a lot of training sessions, he is training really well,” he said. “That doesn’t mean Ibou [Konate] or Joey [Gomez] wouldn’t train well, but Jarell trained really well and that’s how it is and that’s why I make these kind of decisions. That’s the best situation to have, I can just sit there and look at it.”
