Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has confirmed his starting team to take on Aston Villa in the Premier League, with decisions made on Alisson Becker and Alexander Isak
18:45, 15 May 2026Updated 18:48, 15 May 2026
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot after the Reds played Aston Villa in February 2025.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot after the Reds played Aston Villa in February 2025.(Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Liverpool remains without Alisson Becker for its game with Aston Villa in the Premier League, with three points enough to secure qualification for the Champions League. Swedish striker Alexander Isak and Dutch full-back Jeremie Frimpong are also absent.
Joe Gomez comes into the side at right-back to play alongside Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Milos Kerkez in Arne Slot's Liverpool defense. That means Curtis Jones moving further forward in the team after a stint at full-back.
Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo and Rio Ngumoha make up the rest of the starters. Mohamed Salah, Federico Chiesa and Florian Wirtz, the latter of whom has been ill lately, are among the options to call upon from the bench, with Gakpo through the middle with there being no Isak.
READ MORE: Virgil van Dijk issues blunt warning to Liverpool over replacing Mohamed Salah and Andy RobertsonREAD MORE: Aston Villa vs Liverpool LIVE: Salah and Wirtz return, Isak and Alisson missing, how to watch and stream
"They [Villa] played Sunday, I think, so now we play on Friday, so I don't see being tired as a reason," Slot said at his pre-match press conference.
"I think one of the reasons why they are in the final of the Europa League and doing so well in the Premier League is because they have a big squad with many, many very good players and a lot of players that are of the same level, same high level.
"If you don't have that, you're not able to go all the way to the final in the Europa League and do so well in the Premier League.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot during a training session.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot during a training session.(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
"And the good thing for them is that, at the moment, they have one or two injuries but not so many. So, I think they are completely ready to go into Friday to go into Wednesday and then go into Sunday."
This season, Liverpool has struggled away from home. It hasn't won at Villa Park since December 2022.
"That's one of the reasons why we're in the position we are in," Slot added. "What I mean with that is we wanted to be higher or doing better this season. But we've dropped far too many points in away games.
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"And as I said, that's maybe always happening in the end of the season, you constantly feel you are telling everyone the same things. But dropping points in away games has mainly happened after playing in Europe, in games where usually Liverpool is able to win.
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"Now Villa away doesn't matter if you play it after a game in Europe or after a week of rest, because this will always be a difficult game.
"But we've dropped points in away games against teams where we usually don't drop points and that has this season happened far too many times after playing in Europe. And that's one of the reasons why we have not qualified yet for the Champions League."
Liverpool starting XI: Mamardashvili; Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Jones, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Szoboszlai, Gakpo, Ngumoha.