Villa need a victory against the Reds in their bid to mathematically secure Champions League qualification ahead of the 2026/27 campaign
Aston Villa coach Unai Emery has offered an update on the availability of Amadou Onana, Alysson and Boubacar Kamara ahead of his team’s game against Liverpool.
The two sides are set to face each other on Friday, only a few days before Villa travel to Turkey, where they will face Freiburg in the Europa League final.
Fifth-placed Villa are level on points with fourth-placed Liverpool, who boast a better goal difference. Yet, a victory on home soil would see Emery’s side mathematically clinch a spot in next season’s Champions League league phase.
Ahead of the game against the Reds, Emery revealed during his press conference that Onana remains sidelined through injury along with Alysson and Boubacar Kamara.
“We have the same players out,” he said. “Amadou Onana is not available for tomorrow, Alysson as well is not, Kamara as well is not. But other players should be ready to play tomorrow.”
Kamara is out for the season, while Onana has missed the last three games but there is a slight chance he could return for the Europa final. With both first-choice midfielders out for the game, Emery is expected to deploy defender Victor Lindelöf alongside Youri Tielemans.
Meanwhile, Alysson hasn’t featured since early March, while Harvey Elliott won’t be available either as he is ineligible to face parent club Liverpool.
Emery on Elliott’s situation
The Liverpool loanee has played just over 100 minutes of Premier League football this season, as Villa would have been forced to trigger a £35m option that would make his deal permanent if he had featured in 10 matches.
“To now explain about the reason for this decision is very difficult, or it is easy, but it is not the moment,” Emery said.
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“My apologies for Harvey Elliott are, every day, in my mind. We have our responsibility and Liverpool have their responsibility.
“How the season has gone has been difficult.”
Liverpool also commented on Elliott’s future, stressing that he is expected to rejoin the Merseyside team ahead of next season.
“He’s contracted to us so he will be with us in the start of the season,” Slot said.
“I think for him, for everyone, it didn’t work out as he wanted it, as we wanted it and probably also how Villa wanted it, because you usually sign a player or bring him in on loan to use him.
“That hasn’t happened a lot. That’s not for me to answer why that is. But of course, it’s never nice for a player not to make so many minutes, especially after the season he had with us, where he made, I assume, even more minutes with us than these 280.
“He went over there to get more playing time, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. And for such a talented player that did so well in the U21 Euros, you want a player like that to get more and more playing time.
“He went to a very, very good team as well, where they also have a lot of good players. I don’t know why he hasn’t made the minutes he was expecting. That’s not for me to answer.”
