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• Slot: Hard work got Liverpool to where they are this season

  Arne Slot believes hard work and intensity have been key to Liverpool's form ahead of their Premier League meeting with Aston Villa on Saturday.

  Slot has won 14 of his 16 matches in all competitions since taking charge at Anfield and, despite his magnificent start, he pointed out that it has not been easy.

  "You only look at results. Brighton was a difficult one on Saturday where we were 1-0 behind and had to fight really hard and that is what you saw," he told the Independent.

  "We have to work really hard with incredibly high intensity to win our games and that has a lot to do with teams who think Anfield is the best place to play, so every team we play against is at the top of their game. If you want to win you always have to be consistent in your intensity."

  Having taken over from Jurgen Klopp, it was understandable that expectations had lowered when Slot took over, but after a stellar start to the season, Slot said he was unconcerned by the pressure.

  "I think if you work at any club around the world there is always pressure. For some managers it is not to go down, for some they have to win a lot,” he added.

  "In our position, there is always pressure and that is the pressure we give ourselves."

  Villa, meanwhile, go into this game having lost back-to-back games against Tottenham in the Premier League and Club Brugge in the Champions League.

  A bizarre penalty conceded by Tyrone Mings provided the winner for the Belgian side on Wednesday, but Unai Emery was still pleased with the intensity his side showed.

  "The first half we played like we were planning... It was a mistake," Emery said after that game.

  "It is difficult and here it is not strange. You watched the match and [Villa] playing, they finished exhausted. It was not intensity, it was that the match changed completely after our mistake."

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  Liverpool – Mohamed Salah

  No player has been involved in more Premier League goals than Mohamed Salah (12) so far this season, with seven goals and five assists. He has also had the most touches in the opposition box this term (96), while of players to have had 20+ shots, no-one has hit a higher percentage of them on target (67% - 20/30).

  The Egyptian has scored in four of his last five appearances at Anfield in all competitions, while he was also credited with two assists in the 4-0 victory over Leverkusen last time out.

  Aston Villa – Ollie Watkins

  Only Erling Haaland (16) has had more big chances than Ollie Watkins (14) in the Premier League this season.

  While Watkins has only scored five league goals, with four of those coming from the big chances, he is still Villa's top goalscorer.

  MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN

  Liverpool have won five of their last six home games against Villa (D1), while the visitors have lost 16 of their last 18 Premier League away games against sides starting top of the table (D2).

  A large part of Liverpool's early-season success has come from their defence, with only Manchester City (32) facing fewer shots on target than them (34) in the league. Liverpool, meanwhile, have conceded the fewest goals in the Premier League (six).

  Slot is also only the fifth manager to win eight of his first 10 Premier League matches in charge, with the club also unbeaten in their last seven (W5 D2) against Villa.

  Slot's side have won four and lost one of their five home games in the league this season, accruing the joint third-most points (12).

  However, Liverpool have conceded the first goal in their last two Premier League games but avoided defeat in both (2-2 v Arsenal, 2-1 v Brighton). Indeed, their win against Brighton was the 100th time they have come from behind to win a Premier League match, the third team to reach this milestone in the competition.

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  Liverpool – 61.8%

  Draw – 19.7%

  Aston Villa – 18.4%

• Kompany unbothered by modest scoreline as Bayern beat Benfica

  Vincent Kompany was pleased with the way Bayern Munich attacked at home to Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday, despite only winning 1-0.

  The victory ended a run of back-to-back defeats for the German team in the competition, leaving them 17th in the league with six points from four matches. 

  "It's important for us to win a game this way. In the past, we always scored three, four or five goals, but today we stayed calm," Kompany told the official club website.

  "We had 24 shots on goal and the opposition had one. Not every finish was dangerous, but we controlled the game. There are games in which the last pass just isn't as precise as necessary.

  "We know we can decide matches within the first five minutes if we're on good form. That didn't happen today. But in the end, it's the Champions League. It was a good game and a good win."

  Midfielder Jamal Musiala scored the only goal of the game in the 67th minute, turning home Harry Kane's knockdown after Leroy Sane had played the ball across the box.

  Sane is yet to start a game in any competition for Bayern this season, coming on in the 56th minute on Wednesday, but his contribution was not lost on Kompany.

  "Obviously, I'm really happy to have the quality of Leroy Sane and Michael Olise in the same position - not to forget Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry. You can say Leroy turned this game around today," he said.

  The goalscorer Musiala, meanwhile, was pleased after scoring his fifth goal in all competitions for the club this season.

  “We had good moments, but the opposition played and defended well. Of course, there are still things we can improve, but it's important to have won the three points," he said.

  "I don't know what's going on with me scoring headers at the moment. The ball dropped nicely for me a few times and I just keep trying to get into good positions I can score easy goals from.

  "We all knew we had to win tonight and we did a good job. We had a tough time settling into the game, but we can't win by four or five goals every time. Sometimes a 1-0 win has to be enough.”

• Women's Super League predictions: Man City and Arsenal backed for victory

  Brighton have been one of the stories of the season so far, and head into matchday seven of the Women's Super League season in third place.

  Yet the Seagulls will face a huge test when they travel to face Arsenal on Friday, in one of two matches taking place that day to kick off the WSL weekend.

  League leaders Manchester City are also in action on Friday, taking on Tottenham.

  On Sunday, reigning champions Chelsea - fresh from a 5-0 win at Goodison Park - are back on Merseyside to play Liverpool.

  Four of the bottom five play each other, with Crystal Palace taking on Everton and West Ham going up against Leicester City, with Manchester United, who drew 1-1 with Arsenal last week, rounding out the weekend against Aston Villa.

  Here, we delve into the pre-match facts, and take a look at the Opta supercomputer's predictions, for each of the fixtures.

  ARSENAL V BRIGHTON

  Arsenal are unbeaten under interim boss Renee Slegers, and despite Brighton's fantastic start to the season, the Gunners are predicted to claim the points.

  They have a whopping 82.1% chance of victory on Friday, with Brighton's win probability at just 6.8%. The threat of a draw is 11.2%.

  Arsenal have a perfect record against Brighton in the WSL, winning all 12 of their meetings with them in the competition by an aggregate score of 44-2. Only Manchester City have a better 100% record against an opponent in the competition (16/16 v Everton).

  Brighton, though, have won four of their six league games this season (D1 L1), just one fewer victory than they managed across the whole of last season (W5 D4 L13). This is the Seagulls' best start after six matches of a WSL campaign.

  Arsenal are winless in their last three home games in the league (D2 L1) – only once have they had a longer run without a win on home soil in the competition (six between May-October 2014). Brighton, though, have never won back-to-back away matches in the competition (they beat Crystal Palace in their last away game).

  Nikita Parris has been in fine form for Brighton, and she will go up against her former club. No player has scored more goals in the WSL against their old teams than Parris (nine, level with Ellen White).

  Beth Mead could be the player to really stand out for Arsenal. Against no side does she have more combined WSL goals and assists than Brighton (12 – seven goals, five assists).

  MANCHESTER CITY V TOTTENHAM

  Arsenal are the most likely side to win, according to Opta's model, this weekend, but league leaders Man City are just behind them.

  City came out on top in 81.8% of the supercomputer's 10,000 pre-match simulations ahead of their game against Tottenham, whose win probability is 6.9%. 

  Spurs' only win on their four previous trips to face City in the WSL came in September 2021, coming from behind to win 2-1 (L3).

  City have won eight of their nine WSL meetings with Tottenham (L1), winning the last five in a row by an aggregate score of 16-1.

  Only Chelsea (20) have scored more goals in the 2024-25 WSL than Tottenham (12 – level with Man City), however only Palace (16) have conceded more goals than Spurs (14) this term.

  City have gone unbeaten through their opening six games of a WSL season for the fourth time after 2016, 2017-18 and 2018-19, while they have never lost in the competition when playing on a Friday (W3 D1), beating reigning champions Chelsea in their only such game last season (1-0 away).

  LIVERPOOL V CHELSEA

  Sonia Bampastor has had a brilliant start to life at Chelsea, and the Blues are expected to keep up that excellent form when they face Liverpool.

  Chelsea's win likelihood is 73.1%, while there is a 15.1% probability of a draw, while Liverpool's chances are rated at 11.8%.

  Bompastor could become the first manager to win each of their first four away games in the WSL. Chelsea have already scored 14 goals on the road this season, with the previous most scored under a manager after four away games being 11 by Jonas Eidevall's Arsenal. 

  Matt Beard, meanwhile, has won four of his 10 WSL meetings with Chelsea as Liverpool manager (D1 L5) – including his most recent in May 2024 (4-3) – with Nick Cushing (five) and David Parker (five) the only managers to win more games in the competition against the Blues.

  Chelsea have won their opening five games of a WSL season for the very first time and could be the sixth team to win their first six matches of a campaign after Arsenal (2018-19, 2021-22, 2022-23) and Man City (2016, 2017-18).

  This will be the 23rd WSL meeting between Liverpool and Chelsea with only Arsenal and Chelsea meeting more often in the competition (28 times).

  Despite the Blues being favourites for this one, it is worth noting Chelsea won four consecutive WSL away games against Liverpool between September 2015 and March 2019 but are since winless in their last three such trips (D1 L2).  

  CRYSTAL PALACE V EVERTON

  Things are not going well for Everton this season. They are bottom of the pile and without a win to their name.

  They visit Palace on Sunday, and the supercomputer is anticipating a tight contest. The hosts' chances are rated at 37.3%, with Everton's at 36.3%. The draw is at 26.4%.

  Everton's two points is their joint-worst tally at this stage of a WSL campaign along with 2014, when they were relegated, and 2018-19 (finished 10th).

  Everton are, however, unbeaten in their last eight WSL games against newly-promoted opposition (W6 D2), winning each of their last four such away games by an aggregate score of 14-0.  

  Palace have lost all three of their home games in the WSL without scoring, conceding 11 goals in the process; only three teams have lost each of their first four matches on home soil in the competition: Yeovil Town in 2017 (-9 GD), Aston Villa in 2020 (-11 GD) and Leicester City in 2021 (-8 GD).

  WEST HAM V LEICESTER CITY

  West Ham are unbeaten in three previous home games against Leicester in the WSL (W2 D1), drawing this fixture 1-1 last season, and the Hammers are expected to end their wait for a win this season when they face the Foxes on Sunday.

  Leicester won just 25.6% of the model's simulations, while West Ham won 48.6%.

  West Ham are, however, the team that is most likely to finish bottom of the WSL this term, according to the supercomputer.

  The Hammers are winless in their last 15 WSL games (D6 L9) while their two points from six games this term is their worst return at this stage of a top-flight campaign (D2 L4).

  Indeed, West Ham have won fewer points (12 – W2 D6 L10) than any other ever-present team in the WSL in 2024, while they have lost each of their last five league games in the month of November, since beating Leicester 1-0 in 2022.

  Leicester, though, have won just one of their last 13 away games in the WSL (D6 L6), a 1-0 victory at Everton in January.

  MANCHESTER UNITED V ASTON VILLA

  Rounding off this round of matches is Man Utd's home game against Villa.

  Marc Skinner's team, who are still unbeaten, are backed to get the win at 73.4%, with Villa having a slender 11.2% chance.

  With just two points from six games, Villa have had their worst start to a WSL campaign (D2 L4) and this is the first time they have gone winless across their opening six matches.

  Villa have lost all four of their away meetings with United in the WSL, conceding 15 goals and netting just once in the process, with that sole goal coming in this fixture last season when losing 1-2.  

  United may be unbeaten, though they have drawn their last two WSL games. The Red Devils could draw three successive league matches for the first time since November 2021.

  Their success has been built on solid foundations this season. United have conceded just two goals after five league games, facing fewer than 10 shots in three of those matches.