Jonty Banks

Wed 21 December 2022 7:10, UK

Aston Villa can strike hot against an undercooked Liverpool team on Boxing Day as Unai Emery looks to carry on how he left off prior to the Qatar World Cup.

While Liverpool had a host of first-team stars off on international duty in Qatar, including Ibrahima Konate, Jordan Henderson and Virgil van Dijk, Villa have been hard at work getting to know the requirements of their new Spanish manager.

Jurgen Klopp has confirmed he will be without French centre-back Konate for the clash, with the rest of his international stars returning to training on Monday (19 December).

With attacker Luis Diaz and Diego Jota also out injured, this Liverpool side suddenly looks depleted and beatable from an Aston Villa perspective.

If the pre-World Cup Emery side were anything to go by, they might well have the quality, but more importantly, composure to come away with three points at Villa Park.

Against Manchester United, Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins terrorised the likes of Luke Shaw and Diego Dalot with piercing runs between the centre-back and full-back – using their pace and power to carve open opportunities at will.

The Red Devils were caught off guard by the direct nature of Villa’s attacking patterns, and looking at how Klopp’s sets up his backline, it could play into Watkins and Bailey’s hands once again.

We know that Villa have a history of exposing the Reds’ high back-line, famously crafting a 7-2 victory during the behind-closed-doors Premier League season, and Van Dijk and co have been caught out in a similar vein several times already this season.

Without Konate’s pace at the back, Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara will be tasked with pinging balls in behind the Liverpool high-line and setting the front two on their way.

It wasn’t just VIlla’s attacking spark that impressed fans before the World Cup, but their ability to close out an ugly win against Brighton the following weekend.

Over the past 18 months, an alarmingly soft underbelly has resulted in the side throwing away leads and failing to manage several games effectively in crucial moments.

However, if the 2-1 victory on the south coast was anything to go by, Emery has brought his battle-hardened nature to Villa Park, and if his side can nick an early goal on Boxing Day, he will hope they can close out a win.

If ever I’ve seen an opportunity to take the game to Liverpool and ruffle a few feathers, this is it. Villa are primed and ready to kickstart their post-World Cup campaign with a bang.

In other Aston Villa news, Unai Emery’s faith in the academy during the World Cup break will reverberate all the way down the club after.