Aston Villa aim to end slump at Anfield

Aston Villa need to get points to climb away from the wrong end of the table when they visit Anfield to face Liverpool on Monday night.

Villa have only won one of their last nine Premier League matches and now sit only three points clear of the relegation places. Gerard Houllier's already injury-ravaged squad are further hit as Barry Bannan is a doubt for the game with a groin problem while Ashley Young – one of their primary attacking threats – will be missing as he serves a one-match suspension for accumulating five bookings.

Houllier saw his side go out of the Carling Cup to bitter rivals Birmingham in midweek, and that came on the back of Premier League defeats to Arsenal and Blackburn.

The Frenchman is returning to Anfield for the first time since he left as Liverpool boss after six years in 2004 and is looking to get one over on his former employers and further increase the problems on Merseyside – and bookmakers have Villa at 11/2 to get the win.

Liverpool have suffered with a faltering season so far under Roy Hodgson and they bounced back from their late loss to Spurs last weekend by getting the draw they needed against Steaua Bucharest to secure their passage into the last 32 of the Europa League.

The home side are looking to win their fourth successive win at Anfield in the league, and are 8/13 for victory, but will line up against Villa without either Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher. Captain Gerrard remains out with a hamstring problem, while Carragher needed shoulder surgery after the Spurs loss and is likely to be replaced by Greece international Sotirios Kyrgiakos.

While Houllier has drawn on all his experience to nurture a new breed of young footballers at Villa, they have only taken three points from a possible 24 in matches against teams currently sitting in the top 10 of the Premier League so far.

He needs Gabriel Agbonlahor and John Carew to step up and get the goals if they want to take all three points on Monday. Apart from the missing Young only Stewart Downing has scored more than once in the Premier League this season – and that is a poor statistic for a side aiming to finish in the top eight.

At least the Villa manager has his first-choice defence to call upon to cope with the threat that is sure to come from Fernando Torres (3/1 to be first goalscorer), Dirk Kuyt and Joe Cole. The travelling fans will be looking to former Anfield players Brad Friedel and Stephen Warnock to be at their best at Anfield if they do not want to drop even closer to the dreaded drop zone.