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2023/24 English Premier League
Matchday 4
Liverpool v Aston Villa
Anfield
Liverpool, England
Sunday, 3 September 2023
Kick-off is at 13h00
Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery will be looking to mastermind a first victory over Liverpool in six
Premier League attempts when they clash at Anfield on Sunday, September 3.
The Villans haven't come out on top in this fixture since they crushed the Reds 7-2 at Villa Park on 4 October 2020, losing four of their subsequent five meetings in the top flight.
Emery's side have responded well after suffering a heavy 5-1 defeat at Newcastle on the opening weekend of the new season, recording back-to-back wins against Everton (4-0) and Burnley (3-1).
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They trail the Merseyside giants by one point in seventh place, with Jurgen Klopp's men still unbeaten as they battled back from behind to beat the Magpies 2-1 on August 27 despite the loss of Virgil van Dijk to a red card on 28 minutes.
Liverpool also came from a goal down to see off Bournemouth 3-1 the previous weekend, having kicked off the campaign with a 1-1 draw at Chelsea.
Darwin Nunez will be pushing for his first league start after three appearances off the bench and producing late heroics against the Tynesiders with a match-winning brace. The Uruguayan striker enjoyed a promising first season at Anfield, contributing nine goals and three assists in 29 outings, although he missed six games with various niggling injuries.
Moussa Diaby has made an encouraging start to his Villa career, scoring two goals and providing one assist in three starts since making the switch from Bayer Leverkusen in the off-season. The 24-year-old Frenchman reunited with Emery at Villa Park, with the pair having worked together during their time at Paris Saint-Germain.
Klopp expects Nunez to play a bigger role for the Reds after the international break when the games will come thick and fast once the Europa League group stages get underway.
"After the international break we play every three days and nobody can play all the games so we have to make sure we have different options to go for," the German said.
"And we need to create a new way to play football and, of course, Darwin can be a super part of that. His key strengths are exceptional, absolutely, but we need to find stability as well.
"So, for him everything will be fine but it is just maybe it had to be like this - if he wouldn't have been that angry and started the game today, he wouldn't score two in the last six minutes or whatever, so let's take it like that."
Emery praised his players for executing the gameplan to perfection against the Clarets, but admits that Liverpool will pose an entirely different challenge.
"Those three points were very important in our idea to progress in the Premier League," the Spaniard told VillaTV. "After the match we played against Everton, a very good match as well, very good points after losing to Newcastle away.
"This was a very big challenge for us, we were speaking about it, and we tried to play tactically, defensively and offensively, strong. The players did the gameplan perfectly.
"Of course, we are sharing those three points with our supporters and trying for everybody to be excited - but with a balance because we are still taking three points, but at the end it is going to be difficult and next week against Liverpool."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Liverpool - 4
Aston Villa - 0
Draws - 1
Matchday 4 fixtures:
Friday, September 1
20h00: Luton Town v West Ham United
Saturday, September 2
12h30: Sheffield United v Everton
15h00: Brentford v Bournemouth
15h00: Burnley v Tottenham Hotspur
15h00: Chelsea v Nottingham Forest
15h00: Manchester City v Fulham
17h30: Brighton & Hove Albion v Newcastle United
Sunday, September 3
14h00: Crystal Palace v Wolverhampton Wanderers
14h00: Liverpool v Aston Villa
16h30: Arsenal v Manchester United
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