LiverpoolWorld's George Priestman previews both Merseyside Premier League games with London World's Toby Bryant and The Athletic's Gregg Evans.
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00:00Welcome to another special Premier League preview ahead of another exciting weekend.
00:04I'm George Priestman of Liverpool World and we will be previewing the Merseyside games
00:09this weekend, starting off with Everton versus West Ham at the London Stadium. To preview
00:14the game, I've enlisted the help of Toby Bryant of London World to help me talk through all
00:18the key issues and key headlines ahead of this game. So Toby, thanks for coming on board.
00:24West Ham's been a very interesting ride so far. Not quite what people expected, but it's
00:31a lot of pressure on the manager right now. And I kind of just wanted to start off with
00:36how much pressure is Jordan Lopetegui under just to win this game?
00:40Yeah, I mean, it's huge. I think club sources, a few people are saying this week, are saying
00:44kind of, if he doesn't get a result, then he's going to go. But I don't think it would
00:48take club sources to predict that that could be the case this weekend, because it's not
00:53been good. I think that's probably true. It's a question of whether a win, whether
00:59a draw would be enough or whether he does need to win to save his job. I think all the
01:03speculation is a little bit harsh. I think the players have been poor. There's been silly
01:08mistakes, silly red cards that just haven't helped him. But if the players are making
01:13those mistakes, they're not being manageable enough, I guess, is what it comes down to.
01:17So, yeah, it's going to fall on him. I think it would be harsh. But yeah, I think if he
01:23doesn't win, I would be surprised if he didn't get his marching orders as a result of that.
01:32Yeah, going into the international break as well, it's always that sort of key time where
01:37managers do get sacked in the writing cubby on the wall if he doesn't win this one. It's
01:43been quite funny, actually. I mean, you talk about Everton and West Ham, they shared a
01:48manager, of course, in David Moyes. There has been links to them somehow with the Everton
01:53job as well. You Google David Moyes, you'll get talks about Everton fans want Moyes back
01:59to save the ship or whatever it is. Just with this whole Lopetegui and Moyes situation,
02:04I guess the pressure's come off the back that they've switched from one style to a completely
02:10different style, I'd say, and it just hasn't gelled so far, has it?
02:13No, I think, you know, we did a piece this week about it. David Moyes gave a lot of quotes before
02:18he left about fans maybe being a bit ambitious and whether the club had the players and the
02:23set-up to be playing a certain type of football that the fans wanted. And obviously, fans hated
02:28that at the time. It's the last thing you want to hear, having won a European Cup, that, oh,
02:31we're not good enough to be playing a certain style of football and they want to be moving
02:35forward. You don't want to be told that you're being too ambitious from that. So I think David
02:42Moyes maybe might feel a bit smug when he thinks back to what he said and how it's going on at the
02:45moment. But I actually think that those words, Western fans should remember how annoying they
02:51were at the time and think that this style of football is what they do want to be kind of
02:56transitioning into. And it's not gone that well. But it is a new era from David Moyes and that is
03:02what was needed. Yeah, I would never see David Moyes back at West Ham. I think he left and he
03:08left. That was it. He just salvaged, you know, he was given a good farewell when he left. I think
03:14if he stuck around longer, it would have ended kind of in a more sour place. I mean, Sean Dye
03:19has just done a good job this season. I could see David Moyes more back at Everton than I could at
03:22West Ham. But realistically, I don't think that will happen for him. Yeah, no, I feel a bit silly
03:28putting return on the thing, though, and it only really kind of applies to Everton, kind of. But
03:34they're going to be moving on to a new era under the freeking group, hopefully, which is probably
03:38going to be a new manager other than Dye again, looking to move from that one style to another
03:42one. It's always associated with playing that free-flowing football. But if you ask fans what
03:47you'd rather have, they'd rather win than have style. I don't know. I don't know if that's just
03:51me, but they want wins, don't they? I think so. It's easy to forget with Moyes that they conceded
03:57six against Arsenal last season, five against, it was Fulham, Palace, I can't remember who the other
04:01team were, they conceded five against. So it wasn't even like it was this defensive kind of force
04:07that was not conceding goals, but getting little wins. I think defensively, at times, they were
04:13even worse last season than they've been this year. Although we're splitting hairs there because
04:18they've been pretty rubbish, both. But yeah, the kind of the David Moyes illusion is one that I
04:24don't think many West Ham fans will be feeling nostalgic about, for sure.
04:28Yeah, for sure. I was looking back at the results and I didn't watch this game personally,
04:34I have seen the highlights, of course, but they beat Ipswich 4-1 earlier on in the season. They've
04:39won three out of the six home games at the London Stadium. It's kind of the only real positive you
04:44can cling to, you'd say, from the season so far. That game specifically, though, I think the xG was
04:503.18 or something, extremely high. They utterly dominated Ipswich, who may have gone ahead early,
04:56if I'm not mistaken. But I guess that's kind of, they're going to come up against a team like
05:02Everton who are, they're going to be well set up, but you know, they've definitely got the
05:06quality there to break them down. And I guess it's can they recreate that type of performance?
05:11Yeah, I think that he'll very much be looking at the Ipswich game as kind of how to handle
05:16this weekend. I think that he won't, like I say, he won't change the kind of the way he wants to
05:21play. They won't sit back and try and kind of eke out that result that he needs. I think they're
05:25going to try and go for anything. That's the best thing for them to do, because the defence is a
05:29mess. I'm not convinced by the Max Killmann signing. He played the three centre-backs with
05:33Tolivo and Mavropanos against Forest last weekend, which I didn't really understand. I think all
05:39three have been not great this season. So to put all on the pitch at the same time felt like an
05:43accident waiting to happen. I could see him going back to four at the back, and then the three up
05:49top. And that is what he did against Ipswich. And they started quickly and they had the pace
05:53and the wins. And I think if they do that against Everton, that is going to be the best way of
05:57getting a result. They didn't, they beat Man United last time at home, but they didn't start
06:01particularly well in that match. And obviously the penalty was a bit iffy at the end as well.
06:05So I think he will go back to the Ipswich game and say, look, let's kind of implement that game
06:09plan and start with that kind of energy again. And then hopefully, you know, they'll get the same
06:13result against Everton as they did against Ipswich.
06:17Yeah, I mean, you touched on it a little bit there. I was going to say, can we sort of expect
06:21any changes or decisions? I've just got to pull up the team then, you know, it's a 4-1, 4-1 type
06:26of situation. Antonio up top, Rodriguez sort of in the sitting role and Suszek in the side as well.
06:33Obviously, Hakuta is playing that day, obviously won't be available. But I guess there is,
06:38they'd like Somerville to come in and obviously the centre-back pair in there is Tobito and Kilman.
06:44Do you think we're going to expect, we can expect a similar team to that,
06:46minus Kudus? Or do you think other players could maybe come into the fold?
06:50Yeah, I think I'll revert back to that because it was a bit different last weekend. That didn't,
06:54obviously, didn't go very well. So, yeah, I think it'll be the former back and then
06:59Somerville will play instead of Kudus. Alvarez is obviously suspended after last weekend,
07:03but that is maybe a blessing in disguise because he is a bit hot-headed. This year,
07:09Suszek missed out with, I think it was an illness. So I would, I would be putting him in. I think
07:13this is the exact kind of game you want the Thomas Suszek in the field to dominate. There is,
07:19there's Guido Rodriguez and Soler is the other option as well. I think two of them in the middle
07:24could be a bit anonymous. So I really think that if he's, if he's well, Suszek needs to come in,
07:29Boehm back out on the right. And I think I'd start Antonio in this game. I think
07:32he could maybe have some luck against him. Yeah. Yeah, I could see that. I get Antonio. It's so
07:38funny. He's inevitable, isn't he? Every year you think this could be, he's gone now, but he ends
07:42up starting games and every week you look, he's starting up front again. He was someone who linked
07:46to Everton actually in the summer, potentially, because I don't know if his contract was running
07:50down or something, but his contract expires next year. So it's, so yeah, he was, I always thought
07:55it would be a decent option for Everton because of the work rate. And he's, you know, he's still,
07:59he's a pretty solid performance all round, but yeah, just coming onto the threat of Everton,
08:03I mean, last week was a real setback because there were five unbeaten and it looked like they'd
08:09turned the corner. And honestly, you could say they look like they turned the corner for the
08:12past two, three years now when they've had a little run of games, you get a little bit excited,
08:16but it ends up just falling away. I think it was such a poor defeat to Southampton who,
08:20they have been the worst team in the league this season, you know, and the chance was really there.
08:25And I thought after they went to Ipswich and got that 2-0 win, I thought they're just going to be
08:28able to repeat that type of performance, maybe a set piece goal, and then, you know, just sort of
08:32kill the game, but it didn't happen. But what we do have is the likes of Bram Thwaite, who should
08:38be starting this week. He's come off the bench the last two weeks. He'll start out getting a better,
08:43sort of better feel overall. And after that, it's really up to Dyche if he wants to make any bold
08:49changes. I'll tell you this for free, he doesn't make any bold changes in his sides. But if you,
08:55I mean, can West Ham sort of be threatened by the likes of, you've got Jesper Lindstrom
09:00might come into the side, but probably stick with Dwight McNeil in the centre. They could
09:04change Beto for, Carver-Lewin for Beto. It's a different threat, at least.
09:09I think that's the one, you know, I've not watched too much of him this season, but I think that is
09:13the one change I would make maybe would be to play Beto instead of Carver-Lewin. I think
09:17when I saw the highlights from the Southampton game, I know it was kind of, should it have been
09:21a yellow, should it have been a red with Ben Lerac when he ran through. But I think that the,
09:26I think the West Ham defence lacks mobility. I think that is an issue. I don't think they're
09:29very quick. And I think if you run at them, they can be caught out. I think Nicholas Jackson had
09:34a lot of luck with that when Chelsea played. And that moment when I saw Beto running and kind of
09:38breaking through past Ben Lerac, I thought that is the exact thing you want to be doing against
09:42this West Ham defence. And I think that he has a bit more pace and a bit more physicality than
09:46Carver-Lewin in doing that maybe. But I know he doesn't get too many minutes. So I would be
09:51surprised maybe if Nights did do that. But yeah, I think West Ham, it's a blessing that Everton lost
09:57against Hampton because I think having, if they'd sustained that run of form, beats the Hampton
10:01convincingly and then comes to London Stadium, you know, it would be hard to look past Everton.
10:05But I think that little setback could really play into West Ham's favour this weekend.
10:10Yeah, I'm definitely expecting something to change because there has to be some sort of,
10:16some sort of reply from last week. I would love to see Beto top, but they do tend to play to him
10:20like he's a target man rather than his actual strengths, which you saw him running. He looked
10:24quite dangerous when he's running through, you know, when he's able to get into his stride.
10:28It's very hard to get him into that sort of style because they do sort of lump it up to him like
10:32he's a Carver-Lewin and he isn't that type of player. It's quite harsh and there might be a
10:35player in there and £25 million says there must be something there. So we'll have to see. I hope
10:40he does start the game, but we'll have to come on to some sort of prediction. I find this one
10:48really difficult. I kind of see West Ham, I think Everton are there to be taken apart if West Ham
10:54can put together any sort of attack. The quality they've got, I think they can just, they'll be
10:58able to find something. So what do you think? Yeah, I think West Ham will get a result. I don't
11:04know if it'll be a win or a draw, but I think it will be enough. And I think Lopetegui will be
11:08the manager of West Ham in two weeks' time off the international break as well. I think if they
11:13win, they could win, it could be kind of a 4-1 scoreline. Again, I think if they score early,
11:18they'll put a few past and maybe concede one. I don't see a 1-0, a 2-0, 1-0 kind of situation.
11:26I think that'll be goals. A draw is maybe what I'm leaning towards more, but I think an early
11:30West Ham goal and they could put three or four past Everton. But hey, that's maybe...
11:35What if it's nil-nil after 60 minutes? What's the feeling then?
11:41Then I'd be worrying about West Ham. I think with the nerves and the need for a result,
11:44then that would... I imagine that's what Sean's actually want,
11:46wanting to stay in the game and then get on to the end.
11:50Yeah, I think so. I just think Lopetegui's too good to go this early in that sense. I just don't
11:56think his time's over yet. I've respected all the work he's done before and I just think it's not
12:01now. So I'm just going to edge a West Ham 2-1 victory. I think they're just going to have
12:05enough quality at the top of the pitch. I see it.
12:09Yeah. I hate going against Everton, but I'm realistic. I'm trying to be as focused in that
12:19sense. So anyway, thank you so much for your time and after the break, we'll move on to the
12:23other side of Liverpool. It's a take on Aston Villa at Anfield. And we're back after the break.
12:28We've just successfully previewed Everton versus West Ham and now we're moving on to the other
12:33side of Merseyside, where Liverpool will take on Aston Villa in what is the late kick-off on
12:38Saturday evening in the Premier League. To preview it, I've been joined by The Athletic's Greg Evans.
12:43Thank you so much for coming on board for this one, Greg. An incredible game ahead of us. Aston
12:49Villa are obviously one of the best teams in the Premier League this season. Liverpool have been
12:52absolutely flying in all circumstances at the moment. They look brilliant. The biggest thing
12:59for me right now after watching that Leverkusen win midweek, and they were brilliant in that,
13:03of course, is there a potential of a little bit of a drop-off because it was such a high
13:08on Tuesday night? Is there any sort of case where we could see a potential drop in performance?
13:14Yeah. Hi, George. Thanks for having me on. I'm really looking forward to the game. It's going
13:18to be a good one for me personally because Liverpool and Aston Villa are the two teams that
13:23I cover sort of heavily, so I haven't paired them up against each other for a while, so I'll be
13:29looking forward to that. In terms of your question, I think Liverpool have managed everything so well
13:35already this season that I kind of have this inner belief that they're just going to get
13:41the job done again. They place a real importance and emphasis on periodisation and managing the
13:50loads of the players under this new regime, and it seems to be working really well. They're
13:57managing the minutes quite well. Every player's getting enough rest. Every player's getting
14:02enough minutes. It seems to be a squad with great harmony at the moment, and they're just finding
14:09their way every time. A lot of the first-half performances haven't been great, but they've
14:13come out in the second half and performed well, so I think perhaps it might even go the other way.
14:18It might galvanise the team and just give them that belief that they're so good they can get
14:21the job done again. Yeah, I think harmony is a key word there. This team looks really settled,
14:27and then you look at the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal, it all looks a little bit
14:31all over the place at the moment, and I think that's really thriving. It's really in Liverpool's
14:35favour at the moment with that type of thing, but Curtis Jones at the moment, the man in form,
14:40just called up for the England squad, deservedly so. Fantastic against Chelsea, was the man who
14:46could find the pass against Leverkusen. He seems to have taken over from Stolbosy in that advanced
14:51role. What do you think he's brought different to the Liverpool team this season that maybe Stolbosy
14:56hasn't? I think just a bit more confidence on the ball. If you look at some of the chances that
15:02Stolbosy has had, he's missed some good opportunities this season. Think back to the
15:07slender victory away at Wolves. He missed a very, very good chance there. You could look at it the
15:12other way and say it was a brilliant save, but if you're attacking midfielder who is four yards out
15:16from goal, you're expecting him to score. Yeah, he's got to score that. Yeah, I think so. There've
15:21been a couple of other moments like that, and I feel like he's playing with just a bit of weight
15:28on him at the moment. I think he's feeling the pressure a little bit, whereas Curtis Jones is
15:34the opposite. I believe that he's a better player for the change of manager. I think it looks like
15:41he's a bit more free. He's expressing himself. He's not as afraid on the ball. He can play those
15:46progressive passes forward, but also at the right time. I think he manages the game very well. He
15:53dictates the tempo at times, and I like the fact that he just gets stuck in every now and then as
15:58well. We don't see it as often from midfielders, but he's not afraid to just do it in the right way.
16:04Yeah, the change of manager I think has been absolutely brilliant for him. The idea that
16:08Slott's a little bit more patient in his possession, and someone like Jones who loves to
16:12have the ball, loves to just take his time a little bit as well. I think that really suits
16:16him. Spot on there. Another man in form, Luis Diaz. Wow. I mean, I'm still in awe of the chip
16:23finish the other night. We're going from a man who was criticised heavily for not having that
16:29clinical edge, or that sort of frantic nature about him. Even I thought potentially with the
16:34links in the summer for a left winger, I thought maybe there could be a chance. You could probably
16:38upgrade on him. But looking at him now, the form he's in, wow. He looks like a strong player,
16:42doesn't he? Yeah, and there were quite a few clubs interested in him.
16:46Liverpool were very clear in their stance. Unless a huge bid came in, they weren't interested in
16:53selling him because they didn't believe they could get a better player than him. And when
16:57Arne Slott interviewed for the job, the Liverpool hierarchy pointed out a couple of players that
17:03have got a lot of potential but weren't quite performing to the levels that they thought they
17:08could. And the job was on Arne Slott to get the best out of them. And he's one of those alongside
17:14Darren Nunes, who's had some good moments this season, Ibrahim McKenna and of course Ryan
17:19Gravenberch, who's been a sensation in comparison to last season. So the manager's getting a little
17:26bit more out of them. Johnny Heitinger's having individual time with some of these players.
17:33The work that they've been doing with Luis Diaz is just running through central areas and timing
17:38his runs a little bit better. And that was clear, wasn't it, against Bayer Leverkusen. Got the nod
17:43up front in that central position and was so destructive up there. Dare I say it, a touch
17:50of the Sadio Manes. It was a bit of a Firmino in there with the goal, wasn't it? The no-look finish.
18:01I do think he's very much his own man, but he has got traits of other great forwards as well.
18:08The key for Diaz is just doing it on a regular basis. He's always been this
18:12one-in-three striker, hasn't he? But his numbers are looking a lot better this season.
18:18Yes, sure. Moving on to the other side, Villa, their form this season has kind of taken a little
18:23bit of a dip over the last month or so. I think it's probably going to be related a little bit
18:28to the European football, the schedule being a little bit more intense for them,
18:34the highs and the lows of that competition. The Bayern Munich win is such a high.
18:38Then obviously, going back to the Premier League a couple of days later is always difficult.
18:43It's new to a lot of players, I guess. Do you think it's having that type of typical pull on
18:49them that it does happen to teams? You saw it with Newcastle last year. Do you think it's a similar
18:53thing? Yes, perhaps. There's no way to dress it up nicely. It's a tough period for Aston Villa at
19:01the moment. The last fortnight has been perhaps the most disappointing of Unai Emery's time.
19:09It says a lot, really. It says that the two years that he's been here at Aston Villa has been
19:15excellent. The club have only lost three games in a row on three occasions and Villa are in one of
19:24these runs at the moment. I think the step-up in quality of opposition that they're having to face
19:30week after week after week is now starting to take its toll a little bit because every game is
19:36just so difficult with the increased games in the Champions League. I don't think they'll get it back
19:46on track on Saturday, but I do think over the course of the season they will.
19:51Yes, I agree there. John Durant is one player who at the start of the season was on flames. He was
19:59coming off the bench. He was the man. Everyone was talking about him. Everybody wanted him.
20:03Obviously, 40-plus teams in the summer wanted him, something like that. It was crazy the momentum he
20:08was getting. He's had to play second fiddle to Oli Watkins, sort of deservedly so, because Oli
20:13Watkins is an absolute top-class player and deserves that. But do you think with this little
20:17bit of a run that we're on now with Villa, could we see maybe Durant come into the side and just
20:21try and shake things up a little bit for Liverpool? Because he did score two last year against them at
20:26Villa Park. Yes, I think his goal-scoring threat, sorry, his threat and his goal-scoring ability
20:33is unquestionable. The issue around John Durant is that he doesn't really do the defensive work
20:37that Unai Emery wants. I think in these defeats, there's even less of a chance of him starting
20:44purely because Oli Watkins is the tried and trusted striker who Emery knows will listen
20:51to instructions and carry those out obediently. Whereas Durant, they're just having a few issues,
20:57the coaching team, of getting instructions into him. In some ways, because when a team are in
21:04such bad form, three defeats and one draw, which is not good for a team chasing the top four,
21:12it can help to mix something up. In some ways, he deserves a start because of his goal-scoring
21:19threat. So yes, it wouldn't surprise me if he did start, but then at the same time, I do think it
21:26will go the other way purely because they're just having a few problems with getting instructions into him.
21:33Yes, I think so. But I'd love to see him start because I think he's such a threat and I think
21:36he would just give Liverpool that little bit more, something else to worry about as well.
21:40Yes, he's quite unpredictable, isn't he? So I think that's what, if you're a defender,
21:45you don't know what's going to happen next. I think that's quite tough. But
21:48at the same time, Virgil van Dijk, who's been brilliant this season, will not be looking
21:53forward to playing against Olly Watkins because of the last time they met, he scored that brilliant
21:57goal in the semi-final of the Euros.
22:01Let's not go there. I'm going to go for fully loaded questions before we go on to the predictions.
22:06So just kind of give me a minute on this. It's just, are Liverpool now in the middle of changing
22:12their expectations on the season? Because before it, no one really had them as title challengers,
22:17Champions League contenders. It's switched now to the top of the league in both competitions,
22:21quarter-finals of the Cup already. Are we looking at something? Are we moving the goalposts?
22:26Yes, I think so. Look, amongst Liverpool supporters, they always expect to be
22:33challenging for the title or the Champions League or trophies. But there was a realisation that,
22:37with Jürgen Klopp leaving and a new guy coming in, that they didn't really know what to expect
22:43and that just consolidation back in the Champions League would have been seen as a realistic aim,
22:48I think, this year. But the way the season started, and I just look back to last weekend
22:53and you think there are so few weekends where, in a title race, two of the three that are always
23:01going for the title in Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool lose. It just doesn't happen so
23:05often and Liverpool were actually quite close to throwing it away at one point as well because
23:10they went 1-0 down to Brighton and then got it back. Obviously, Arsenal had lost earlier in the
23:16day and Manchester City went on to lose. So, there are opportunities there. I think the fact that
23:21they've got their house in order, they haven't changed too much this summer in terms of the
23:27playing personnel. There's a lot of players there that know the grind and what it takes to go and
23:33win titles and to stay there to the end. I think that they will be feeling that they've got a good
23:37opportunity and the supporters are certainly rolling with the momentum now and believe they've got a good chance.
23:44Yeah, of course. And yeah, as the season goes on, we'll have to see how this develops. But I think
23:48just the squad they've got, it's very settled. It's got youth, it's got experience and yeah, the winning
23:54know-how, how to do it as well. So, really interesting to see how they keep developing
23:58because they've been so brilliant so far. But just lastly, on a quick prediction, I've got
24:02goals in this game. I'm going to go big. I'm going to go Liverpool 3-1. I think Village is going to
24:07run out of steam in the second half and Liverpool will just pick them off.
24:11Yeah, I do think a Liverpool win. I think perhaps just by the one goal though.
24:15It's hard. I'm so bad at predicting scorelines. Maybe 2-1 or 2-1 or maybe even 3-2. I do think
24:23that Villa will give it a bit more of a go on Saturday. But I just can't see them doing it
24:30because I think the form that Liverpool are in, 14 wins out of 16, it's hard to see beyond them, isn't it?
24:36Yeah, agreed. But looking forward to a very exciting game and thank you so much for your
24:40time to preview this fantastic game. And we'll be back on Monday or Tuesday with a review of
24:47how the Merseyside club's gone this weekend. So, I'll catch you then.