Aston Villa welcome Liverpool in the FA Cup third round tonight, a game that was only confirmed as going ahead this morning.
The club have been forced to close their Bodymoor Heath training base after an outbreak of coronavirus within the senior squad and staff, so they will be relying on their U23s and U18s this evening. U23s coach Mark Delaney will take charge of the team, which will also be unable to feature the best development players as they will have been training with the senior side!
As a result of this footballing tragedy, bookies have slashed their odds on Liverpool winning the match. Indeed, Sky Bet have Liverpool as 1/9 favourites, whilst Bet365 have The Reds at 1/12.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will freshen up his under-performing side but is reluctant to make too many changes.
Neco Williams could come in for Trent Alexander-Arnold, while Fabinho could be rested at centre back.
In midfield Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Thiago Alcantara require more game time aftercoming back from injury, as does Xherdan Shaqiri. All could start at Villa Park, where anything less than a Liverpool victory would be an utter disaster for Klopp’s men.