Aston Villa vs. Liverpool, Open match thread

Every game is a big game at this point in the season when you're in the bottom three, but this game is probably a slightly less big game than others. Villa don't need to win, and a loss wouldn't be the end of the world by any stretch. Of course, that means that a win would be like finding a pretty handsome stack of cash just sitting there on the sidewalk, with the added bonus of not having any guilt over not reporting a lost three points to the police and hoping no one claims them.

Elsewhere in the relegation battle this weekend, well, it sucked. There were positives with Reading falling to Arsenal (in the process matching Villa for the league's worst goal difference) and Sunderland falling to Manchester United (in the process matching Villa for "club most hopelessly borked by Martin O'Neill") but the negatives were far more severe, with Wigan leapfrogging Villa by thanks to an 81st minute winner from Arouna Kone. Southampton have somehow moved all the way to 12th thanks to a 2-1 win over the most worthless Champions of Europe in the history of Champions of Europe, while West Ham's 3-1 win over West Brom has put them out of danger for the time being.

Nice time to pull out a shocker, boys. You've done it once, what's another?