LIVERPOOL have been the Premier League's biggest underachievers this season so Jurgen Klopp's men will be desperate to return from the World Cup break with a momentum-building win at Aston Villa.
Having come so close to a second league title under Klopp on the final day last term, most people expected the Anfield giants to be the biggest challengers to Manchester City once more.
But when the Premier League went into shutdown for Qatar 2022, Liverpool found themselves sitting in seventh place, 10 points behind City and whopping 15 adrift of surprise pace-setters Arsenal.
A title push looks beyond them but the more immediate concern is a Champions League place, with Klopp's side currently seven points behind fourth-placed Spurs.
Aston Villa's season has also been a major disappointment with manager Steven Gerrard axed back in October with his team closer to the drop zone than the upper reaches of the table.
Despite heavy investment in the squad, Villa made little if no progress under the former Rangers boss, with Unai Emery now charged with taking them forward.
The Spaniard has made a decent start and his team headed into the break having won three of their last five games. That lifted them five points clear of the drop zone but Emery won't be able to relax until his team climb further up the table.
Successive wins over Manchester United and high-flying Brighton proved that Aston Villa have the class to beat any team on their day so it will be interesting to see how Liverpool fare in the Midlands.
How the bookies view it
Liverpool are odds-on favourites and their best price is just 7/9 with VBet. Aston Villa are 18/5 with Betfred while the draw pays 3/1 at Unibet.
Recent head to head
Liverpool have suffered some embarrassing defeats at Villa Park in recent seasons, with a 5-0 League Cup loss in 2019 followed by a 7-2 Premier League thrashing the following year. But those two hidings are the only highlights for Villa in the last 10 meetings, with the eight other matches all ending in wins for the Reds.
Last season's clashes were tight, with a 1-0 win for Klopp's side followed by a 2-1 triumph in the Midlands as Sadio Mane struck the winner after the break.
Players to watch
Danny Ings signed off in style before the Premier League shutdown with a double to sink Brighton. The striker will be desperate to shoot down his old club and is 3/1 at Bet365 for anytime scorer.
Darwin Nunez was starting to hit his stride before the World Cup and Klopp's big-money summer signing should push on in the second half of the season. The Uruguayan is 13/8 with Bet365 for a goal at Villa Park.
Anything else catch the eye?
Our man Mark went for goals in midweek as Liverpool returned to action with a titanic League Cup tie against Manchester City and this is also a fixture which has delivered plenty of thrills in recent years.
Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals landed in Villa's last three games before the break so both those bets appeal here. The odds aren't great though with BTTS just 13/19 at SBK and over 2.5 strikes priced 4/6 by the same firm. So I'm going for over 1.5 first-half goals instead as that pays 6/4 with Coral.
John McGinn was back in favour for Villa before the World Cup, starting the last two games. He's always decent value for a card and Bet365 price him at 13/5 to fall foul of the ref here.
This English Premier League match between Aston Villa and Liverpool will be played on Dec 26, 2022 and kick off at 17:30. Check below for our tipsters best Aston Villa vs Liverpool prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
