Aston Villa vs Liverpool - Premier League: TV channel, team news, lineups & prediction

Aston Villa return to Premier League action with a home game against Liverpool on Boxing Day.

Unai Emery only took charge of three Villa matches - winning both of his Premier League bouts - before the World Cup ushered in a winter hiatus, leaving his new club in 12th during the off-season.

Liverpool are up in sixth but only four points better off than the side which parted company with Steven Gerrard in October. Jurgen Klopp's team has been consistently inconsistent this term; in the final month of the Premier League's first act, Liverpool defeated Manchester City and Tottenham yet also lost to relegation candidates Leeds and Nottingham Forest.

Here's everything you need to know about a gift of a game the day after Christmas.

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Where are Aston Villa vs Liverpool playing?

• Location: Birmingham, England
• Stadium: Villa Park
• Date: Monday 26 December
• Kick-off Time: 17:30 GMT / 12:30 ET / 09:30 PT
• VAR: Simon Hooper
• Referee: Paul Tierney

Aston Villa vs Liverpool H2H Results (Last Five Games)

• Aston Villa: 1 Win
• Liverpool: 4 Wins
• Draws: 0

Current Form (Last Five Games)

• Aston Villa: WLWLW
• Liverpool: WWDWL

How to watch Aston Villa vs Liverpool on TV and live stream

United Kingdom

• Amazon Prime Video (UK)

United States

• NBC Universo (United States)
• NBC Sports (United States)
• USA Network (United States)

Canada

• futboTV (Canada)

Aston Villa team news

There is a chance that Philippe Coutinho will be available for the visit of his former employers this Monday. Liverpool's most expensive sale has been spotted back in training after sitting out the first weeks of Emery's reign with a thigh injury.

Diego Carlos isn't expected back from a ruptured Achilles tendon until February.

The Polish pairing of Matty Cash and Jan Bednarek have returned from Qatar with Belgium's Leander Dendoncker but the World Cup winning goalkeeper Emi Martinez is unlikely to feature before January.

Aston Villa predicted lineup vs Liverpool

Aston Villa Starting 11 (4-4-2): Olsen; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Kamara, Luiz, Buendia; Bailey, Watkins.
Bench: Marschall, Young, Ings, Chambers, Augustinsson, Nakamba, Coutinho, Dendoncker, Archer.

Liverpool team news

James Milner hobbled off with a hamstring injury in the first half of Liverpool's thrilling Carabao Cup tie with Manchester City on Thursday night. The veteran midfield joins a heartily populated treatment room.

Roberto Firmino and Curtis Jones could be back from their minor muscular problems as soon as early January. Diogo Jota (calf) and Arthur Melo (thigh) aren't set to return until February while the wait for Luis Diaz's recovery could stretch until March after he underwent knee surgery.

Trent Alexander-Arnold was one of several squad members affected by a virus travelling through the squad but may well have recovered by Boxing Day.

Liverpool predicted lineup vs Aston Villa

Liverpool Starting 11 (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Elliott, Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Nunez, Carvalho.
Bench: Kelleher, Phillips, Tsimikas, Bajcetic, Gomez, Henderson, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsay.

Aston Villa vs Liverpool score prediction

A debut victory over Manchester United showed the speed with which Emery can transmit his tactical demands. However, the four-time Europa League winner has now had an extended period of time to work with a squad which was scarcely impacted by the World Cup.

Klopp's ideals are ingrained into the fabric of his squad but there is a sense that the repetition of the same instructions doesn't have quite the same snap after seven years. In light of a misfiring press, Liverpool have been desperately reliant upon their goalkeeper Alisson this season - half the division faces fewer shots on target per game than this porous iteration of the Reds.

Emery's Villa may pose a number of teams a number of problems in the Premier League's second act. A freshly fallible Liverpool might not immune to these potential struggles.

Prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Liverpool