Why Aston Villa vs Liverpool is being held on Friday night plus talkSPORT commentary details

Aston Villa and Liverpool meet in a crucial clash for European football on Friday night after the fixture was rescheduled.

Unai Emery‘s side have not won any of their last three games in the Premier League, meaning a top-five spot isn’t guaranteed.

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One more win would secure their spot in the Champions League, but Arne Slot finds his team in the exact same position.

Liverpool also know that a victory would book their spot among Europe’s elite as they travel to Villa Park.

Of course, both teams may still make it, but this match will potentially have an impact on the nerves heading into the final day.

Why is Aston Villa vs Liverpool on Friday?

The meeting between Aston Villa and Liverpool was originally scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 17.

However, only last week, the Premier League were forced to make a late change and move the fixture to an earlier date.

“Liverpool’s Premier League fixture at Aston Villa will now be played on Friday, May 15,” the Reds wrote on May 7.

“The Villa Park meeting has been brought forward from Sunday, May 17, due to Villa’s progression to the Europa League final.

“Kick-off will be 8pm BST and the game will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK.”

As Liverpool mentioned in their statement, the change of date for the game was enforced due to Aston Villa’s European success.

Emery’s men thrashed Nottingham Forest 4-0 last Thursday to book their place in the Europa League final.

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Fans were in tears as their club reached their first showpiece on the continent in 44 years with the victory.

Villa will take on Bundesliga side Freiburg in the final, which is going to take place on Wednesday, May 20, live on talkSPORT.

Their game with Liverpool also couldn’t be played on Saturday, as that is FA Cup final day.

So as the turnaround would be too quick if the match against Liverpool had been kept on the Sunday, it was rescheduled to now be played on Friday to allow enough recovery and travel time.

Aston Villa vs Liverpool: talkSPORT coverage

talkSPORT will have exclusive live coverage of the game.

Commentary will be coming from Jim Proudfoot and former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder Charlie Adam.

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream. Listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

Aston Villa vs Liverpool: Team news

Aston Villa are likely to leave Amadou Onana out of their squad for this clash in favour of a return in Europe.

Onana picked up a calf injury in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final against Nottingham Forest.

Boubacar Kamara is ruled out, with Alysson sidelined too.

As for Liverpool, Mohamed Salah remains a doubt, but he could be fit to return from his hamstring injury.

In goal, Alisson is expected to miss his tenth straight game, while Florian Wirtz should be back in action after illness.

Hugo Ekitike won’t be playing until next season following his World Cup dream ending due to an Achilles injury.