Liverpool v Aston Villa live: Banter, match links, team news and a bet

I can almost see what people are going to be writing after this match. There is one of three options; the 'I'm proud of what I saw tonight', the 'O'Neill has to go' one is getting a bit tired at the moment, but the one I want to read is the 'fantastic result' or 'it was only a blip'.

I'm not sure which one I'm going to see and for each of the three above they all have a complete opposite, but for me, like most that will be reading this at some stage in the evening, it is going to be a tense time and our underdog status might actually do us a favour, even if the talk from some of the players the past few days was cringeworthy.

What I can tell you is I will have team news here, some links I'm sure will be posted in the comments box and I will post a few below too and there will also be, I have no doubt, a bit of scouse banter as I'm heading out to a mates house to watch the game and he happens to be a Liverpool fan.

Rest assured I'll be drinking all his beer tonight and I will bring my Mini 9 and I will be updating this page as well as the Twitter page, as regularly as I can.

The headlines below should give you an indication of what to expect for later but for now, leave a comment with what you think the excuse will be later for why John Carew didn't play.

Team News

My head says Gabby and Heskey but my heart says Gabby or Heskey. We will find out in about an hour so we will update this part of the page as soon as we can.

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Insua, Mascherano, Lucas, Kuyt, Gerrard, Benayoun, Torres. Subs: Cavalieri, Voronin, Riera, Babel, Kelly, Dossena, Ayala.

Aston Villa: Friedel, Beye, Davies, Cuellar, Shorey, Milner, Sidwell, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor. Subs: Guzan, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Delph, Heskey, Gardner, Lowry.

It looks like O'Neill has made a sensible decision and gone 4-5-1. I just hope he plays the full ninety minutes doing it.

Streams & TV

I know you all know now my preferred choice if you have to watch on line but others will be posted below as and when someone finds them.

Man of the Match

A vote will be put up at full time, so keep your eyes open.

The Manager Talks

Right before the game, the manager has asked for calm. I actually think this a worrying request from the manager and I'll explain why tomorrow, but making excuses before kick off is never a good sign.

But just to put my little bit in, unless we make some significant signings, we will be 9th or 10th after 10 games and frankly, I don' tthink that is good enough. But I might be wronga dn we might be 4th and if we are, I'll buy Martin O'Neill a beer.

Martin O'Neill
It will even itself up. After 10 or 12 games, we will be in a position to make a proper assessment. Of course, we need to improve and keep on improving. As the whole squad gets fully wound up and fully fit then we will be OK. It’s a tough time at the start of the season.

We had the Peace Cup, we had some players coming back later than others. I think other teams are feeling the same way. This is not putting an excuse on it, we’ve got to try and be ready for it. The games are hard and they are approaching us pretty quickly as well which is good. But when we settle down in the season we’ll be absolutely fine.

Half Time Update

We look much much better playing 4-5-1. Reo-Coker is having a fantastic game and with goals from Davies and a Lucas own gaol, all we have to do in the second half is exactly what we have done in the first.

We have closed them down easily, we have attacked well and Sidwell, Milner and Reo-Coker have attacked well.

Ashley Young is having a quiet game, but he just needs to get used to the formation a little, he will get better in 4-5-1 over time.

If anything, the past 45 minutes must demonstrate how our football is going to be better this way. Martin O´Neill has to stick with it.