Liverpool vs Villa predicted team: Robertson, Henderson axed after City shocker

Liverpool take on Aston Villa on Sunday – here is our predicted team.

Jurgen Klopp will be eager to rotate after a questionable performance away at the Etihad Stadium, which saw Liverpool defeated 4-0 at the hands of Manchester City.

This was the fifth consecutive game Liverpool failed to score in an away fixture – but, albeit these negatives, are Premier League champions and not afraid to remind the general public of that.

However, on Thursday, there was some distinct hangover still left in the players’ systems.

Joe Gomez was the easy culprit having made the error for City’s opening goal, the penalty, which Kevin de Bruyne converted. He was hauled off at half-time.

This is the earliest Klopp has made a substitution in the Premier League (not due to injury) since Dejan Lovren’s ‘disasterclass’ away at Tottenham in 2017.

Andy Robertson, reminding us of a greyhound chasing a rabbit, looked completely out of sorts. Not to forget the nightmares had by Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino up front as well.

Though the positives are effectively non-existent, it does give the opportunity for a reaction as the Reds return to Anfield.

Villa are certainly not even close to the level of Manchester City, and themselves have picked up just one point since the league returned after lockdown.

Let’s take a look at the team-sheet which we think will materialise on Sunday, taking to the hallowed turf in response to the aforementioned embarrassment.

Alisson Becker

Brazil’s number one was potentially one of three who could escape Scott free from criticism last time out.

There was next to nothing Alisson could do about the four strikes from de Bruyne, Sterling, Foden and, yes, Oxlade-Chamberlain.

I doubt he will be too busy against Villa so will need to call on his already brilliant concentration levels that he has flaunted since arriving from Roma last summer.