Premier League: three strong selections for Liverpool's trip to Aston Villa

The title race pendulum swung towards Man City at the weekend, but Liverpool have the chance to put the pressure back on Pep Guardiola's side on Tuesday night.

Liverpool can put pressure back on Man City

The advantage undeniably belongs to Manchester City, but the Premier League title race is not over yet.

Liverpool head into the midweek round of fixtures three points adrift of Pep Guardiola’s side at the summit of the standings, but a victory at Villa Park on Tuesday would put the pressure back on City ahead of their trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers 24 hours later.

Saturday’s meeting with Tottenham Hotspur always looked like a potential banana skin. Antonio Conte’s men took the lead on the counter-attack, and although Luis Diaz’s deflected strike restored parity with 16 minutes left on the clock, Liverpool were unable to find a winner.

Aston Villa will hope a similar game plan bears fruit, but they do not have the quality that Spurs possess in attack. Liverpool will be keen to make a quick start to settle the nerves, and their speed in transition makes them arguably Europe’s most dangerous team to play against when they already have a lead.

The away team to score in both halves is available at 2.08, which looks like pretty good value.

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard has seen his side take seven points from their last available nine, including a victory at Burnley on Saturday

Can Gerrard harm his former club’s title chances?

Aston Villa were obdurate opponents when they narrowly lost 1-0 at Anfield in mid-December. That was Steven Gerrard’s fifth game in charge; three of his previous four had produced victories.

It is fair to say Villa’s fortunes have oscillated since then. A three-match winning run in February and March was directly followed by a four-game losing streak. Gerrard will be working hard to make his team more consistent in his first full season at the helm.

Villa head into this match in good form after taking seven points from the last nine on offer. Back-to-back triumphs over Norwich City and Burnley have secured their Premier League status, and a top-half finish is well within reach.

Denying Liverpool victory will be a tall order, though. The Reds may have dropped points at the weekend, but they won 13 of their previous 14 top-flight encounters. Villa looked sharp in attack against Burnley and may well find the net here, but Jurgen Klopp’s charges will surely prove too strong. Consider an away win and over 2.5 goals at 2.02.

Diaz can maintain excellent start to Liverpool career

Few January signings have made as much of an immediate impact as Diaz. It was initially thought that the Colombia international would be used sparingly this term, but he has forced his way into Klopp’s first-choice XI.

His goal against Tottenham may have been fortuitous, but it was no surprise to see Diaz get himself into a scoring position.

He has now notched three goals in his team’s last six matches in all competitions – no Liverpool player has a better record in that time – and is favourably priced at 2.72 to score anytime on Tuesday.

Recommended bets

Liverpool score both halves @ 2.08

Liverpool/over 2.5 @ 2.02

Diaz anytime @ 2.72