Liverpool face Aston Villa at Anfield as the Kop bids an emotional farewell to a host of players.
While James Milner, Roberto Firmino, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita will all say goodbye to The Kop on Saturday, there is still the small matter of a football match to be played.
It is no dead rubber either, as Jurgen Klopp‘s team need to win if they are to stand a chance of Champions League qualification.
As the clock ticks on, eyes and ears may stray to Man United‘s match at Bournemouth, with Liverpool relying on Erik ten Hag’s side to drop points in the race for a top-four finish.
Familiar faces on Merseyside
The Reds have scored more league goals in their history (337) against Aston Villa than they have against any other team.
Liverpool have amassed more league points against them (319), converting to three points for a win, than they have against any other team.
With a total of 93, the Reds have recorded more league wins against Saturday’s opponents than against anyone else in their history.
There has been only one 0-0 draw at Anfield in the last 36 league clashes between the teams, a run dating back to 1981.
The last 11 encounters in all competitions have produced 46 goals.
One last Anfield outing
Firmino will make his final Anfield appearance in a Liverpool shirt. He has scored 53 goals in 172 games in all games in front of the Kop.
With a total of 353, Firmino has played more games for the club under Klopp than any other player.
Next on the list is Milner (321) who will also play his final game at Anfield as a Liverpool player.
Liverpool’s final home league game of a season has been won six times under Klopp, with an aggregate score of 19-4.
A day of landmarks
Liverpool are seeking a fourth league double in the last five seasons that the teams have met.
A crowd of 52,874 will see the Reds set a new club record for their highest attendance aggregate at Anfield in a single league campaign, beating the 1,010,316 who attended in the 2018-19 season.
Liverpool will register 350 goals in league games under Klopp should they score twice in this game.
Fabinho could play his 150th league game for Liverpool.
Mo Salah could become the first player to reach 50 appearances for the Reds this season.
If Salah scores in this game, he will become the first Liverpool player since Roger Hunt, in 1965-66, to score 20 league goals for a third successive season.
Salah is one goal short of recording 20 in the league for the fifth campaign out of six – he recorded 19 in the other.
A chance for youth
When scoring at Villa Park in December, Stefan Bajcetic became Liverpool’s fourth youngest ever league scorer, aged 18 years and 65 days.
When he scored, he had only been on the pitch for two minutes as a second half substitute for Jordan Henderson – only Michael Owen, Raheem Sterling and Jimmy Melia were younger.
When making his league debut for Liverpool at Villa earlier this season, Ben Doak, aged 17 years and 45 days, became the youngest Scottish player in Premier League history.
Curtis Jones’ first league goal for Liverpool came against Villa in the 2-0 Anfield win in July 2020.
Milner played 126 times for Villa in all competitions during a spell from 2008-10, which followed a period on loan with the Villans in 2005-06 – he scored 22 goals.
In all competitions against Villa, Salah has hit six goals in his last six appearances.
Tight margins at Anfield
The Reds’ last four Anfield outings have seen them win by a one-goal margin; 3-2; 4-3, 1-0, 1-0.
The last time they extended that to a sequence of five in succession came in April 1974 (during a run of 7).
Liverpool have won seven and drawn one of their last eight league games at Anfield, with only Arsenal preventing them from winning.
They are looking to keep a fourth successive clean sheet for the first time since April 2022.
The Reds have still been winning despite the tight margins this season.
Since Leeds’ 2-1 win in October, they are unbeaten in the last 11 at home in the Premier League.
They have won 13 of their 18 home league games this season. A victory would see them record a 14th for the seventh time in the last 18 seasons.
Villa’s renaissance
Villa have won three of their last 10 league visits to Anfield.
They have kept one clean sheet in their last 19 league visits – a 1-0 win in September 2014.
They have won six of the last 40 games at Anfield dating back to 1977-78, with all of those successes coming during the Premier League era.
No Villa player has ever scored a hat-trick at Anfield.
Ollie Watkins needs one goal to become the first Villa player since Christian Benteke, a decade ago, to reach 15 goals in a Premier League season.
Villa’s manager, Unai Emery, has faced Liverpool eight times in his managerial career, winning once – the 2016 Europa League final with Sevilla.
Emery’s last visit to Anfield came in May 2022, when his Villarreal side lost 2-0 in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals.
This season’s scorers
Liverpool: Salah 30, Nunez 15, Firmino 11, Gakpo 6, Diaz 5, Elliott 5, Jota 5, Alexander-Arnold 4, Carvalho 3, Jones 3, Van Dijk 3, Matip 2, Bajcetic 1, Oxlade-Chamberlain 1, own goals 4
Aston Villa: Watkins 15, Ings 7, Douglas Luiz 6, Bailey 5, Buendia 5, J. Ramsey 5, Digne 2, Traore 2, Coutinho 1, McGinn 1, Mings 1, Sanson 1, Young 1, own goals 3
* Stats courtesy of LFC statistician Ged Rea (@ged0407).
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