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In preparation for this weekend's match, I exchanged a few emails with Matt A from SB Nation's Liverpool blog, Anfield Asylum. He talked about how Liverpool fans feel after their win over Stoke and what they think about their chances against Villa. In particular, I found this interesting:
The real issue is that the opener was more of the same on a few fronts. Most obviously, our dominance in the run of play only led to the one goal and a few cracks of the bar. I can safely speak for everyone when I say we really need to quit playing crossbar challenge during matches, truly infuriating.
Likewise, after not taking our chances a clumsy defensive error gave Stoke the chance to share the points - only Mignolet's heroics saved us. Those two issues combined have been deadly for us over the past few years and really need to be ironed out if we want to move up the table.
That's partly why I'm nervous about Saturday. You're right in that Villa's counterattack is top notch, you won 3-1 at Arsenal with 40% possession I think. Benteke could finish the plays, but the real threat is direct running by Weimann and especially Agbonlahor into the space behind our fullbacks.
Be sure to head on over there and get the whole back-and-forth, including my answers and prediction for the match.