Liverpool-Aston Villa Preview

Adopted from sports.yahoo.com

Aston Villa's rugged start to the season continues Saturday afternoon when they welcome Liverpool to Villa Park.

Paul Lambert's side have already played Arsenal and Chelsea in the opening week of the season, but go into this game in high spirits after two excellent performances. A 3-1 win at the Emirates saw Christian Benteke score twice in his first appearance since pushing for a move earlier in the summer, and the big Belgian bagged another in the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday evening.

Lambert bemoaned refereeing decisions that he felt denied his team a positive result at Stamford Bridge, but was quick to move on from the disappointment and focus on Saturday's game.

"They have that feeling of 'I want to go again.' That's the beauty of it," said Lambert of his young squad. "The lads know they were outdone by certain aspects of the Chelsea game. I thought we were excellent. Some of the football was terrific. We come away from two difficult games with our confidence really vibrant - and so it should be because of the way we played. There will be one or two bruises. Friday will be light for them and then we go again on Saturday.

"It's great when you get a group of lads who are going to the well for you every time. I trust them. I trust them to give it a right good go. I always know they have given me absolutely everything they have given. That's all you can ask for as a manager. I have a good staff behind me and I have top players playing at the top of their game."

Visitors Liverpool had an encouraging start to the campaign, playing some excellent football in a 1-0 win over Stoke in their league opener. However, manager Brendan Rodgers looks likely to miss out on key transfer target Willian, who is set for a £30m move to Tottenham, and the Liverpool boss admitted that the club may have set their sights a little too high in the transfer window.

"Over the course of the summer, we have been very ambitious in our attempts to try to get in players to improve the team," said Rodgers in his pre-match press conference. "Some might say too ambitious but this is Liverpool Football Club - we are trying to get the best players that we possibly can. If we can't get them in, we just have to move on. We've got 11 days to go, we have to do everything we possibly can."

Aston Villa have injury doubts over Ciaran Clark (head), Nathan Baker (ankle), Chris Herd (calf) and Charles N'Zogbia (calf). Liverpool may be without Sebastian Coates (knee).

Liverpool won this fixture 2-1 last season, with Jordan Henderson and Steven Gerrard scoring the goals to overcome Benteke's opener. The Villans fared better at Anfield, with Benteke scoring a brace in a 3-1 win. The home side has not won any of the last four meetings between these clubs.

Aston Villa have won just one of their last 16 home matches against Liverpool, and have managed just nine home wins overall the last two seasons.