EFL Cup: Aston Villa v Liverpool betting preview, free tip & where to watch

Football tips, best bets and predictions for Aston Villa v Liverpool in the EFL Cup quarter-finals

Where to watch

Sky Sports Football and Main Event, 7.45pm Tuesday

Best bet

Aston Villa & both teams to score
1pt 6-4 Hills
Back this tip with William Hill

Team news

Aston Villa
Tyrone Mings, Keinan Davis (both hamstring) and Jed Steer (calf) are injured and James Chester lacks match fitness.

Liverpool
Liverpool will utilise their Under-23s with the first team away in Doha for the Club World Cup. Rhian Brewster, Adam Lewis and Yasser Larouci are injury doubts.

Match preview

Aston Villa have taken advantage of a soft path through to the EFL Cup quarter-finals and should be too strong for a youthful Liverpool side at Villa Park.

The tie takes place the day before Liverpool begin their Club World Cup challenge with a semi-final against Monterrey in Doha.

And Liverpool's priorities are obvious with all of their fit senior players boarding the plane to Qatar.

They will be left with essentially a third-choice side which will include several players making their senior debuts.

Hopes rest largely on the shoulders on the handful of players with first-team experience, including England under-21 striker Rhian Brewster and England under-17 winger Harvey Elliott, who played the full 90 minutes of Liverpool's bonkers 5-5 draw at home to Arsenal in the previous round.

Both impressed against the Gunners and Brewster, who netted 20 goals in 23 matches with England's under-17 team, could cause problems for a Villa defence weakened by the ongoing absence of Tyrone Mings.

However, many of the players will be drawn from Liverpool's academy side which struggled in this season's EFL trophy, finishing at the foot of a section featuring Accrington, Fleetwood and Oldham.

Liverpool conceded nine goals in those three games, including a 5-2 drubbing at the hands of Accrington in October.

Facing such a weakened side is great news for Villa, who are bidding to win a cup competition for the first time since lifting the League Cup in 1996.

They have knockout out two Premier League clubs, Brighton and Wolves, but on both occasions benefited from their opponents making 11 changes.

However, they failed to keep clean sheets – winning 3-1 at Brighton and 2-1 at home to Wolves.

Poor defending has been an issue in the Premier League with Dean Smith's side shipping 30 goals in 17 matches.

Villa's 2-0 defeat at Sheffield United – their third loss in succession – leaves them outside of the drop zone on goal difference and Saturday's clash at home to relegation rivals Southampton is of obvious importance.

Smith may consider making a few changes with that fixture in mind but, as a Villa supporter, he is acutely aware of the size of the club and the need to take cup competitions seriously.

He is unlikely to make wholesale changes and the experience and knowhow of his players should give them a decisive advantage over such youthful opposition.

However, it may not be an entirely smooth ride and Liverpool's kids can at least follow in the footsteps of Brighton and Wolves by grabbing a consolation goal.

Key stat

Aston Villa have kept one clean sheet in their last 14 matches.

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