Reds to be Villains in Unai’s Champions League quest

Unai Emery has to make sure Villa get over the final hurdle (Picture: Getty Images)

Aston Villa faltered when the chance to win the Europa Conference League was in touching distance, now they have to hold their nerve with a place in next season’s Champions League within their grasp.

Victory at home to Liverpool in the last Monday Night Football match of the season will guarantee Villa finish fourth in the Premier League, punching their ticket to European football’s top club tournament.

But two crushing defeats to Olympiakos in the Conference League semi-finals show Unai Emery’s side have some way to go before they can consider themselves to be ranked among the best.

They aren’t finishing the season strongly as they were beaten at Brighton between the defeats to the Greek giants and playing in front of the Holte End is not the massive bonus it was earlier in the season when they won 15 times on home soil as they have triumphed in just three of their last eight top-flight games at Villa Park.

Micky van de Ven’s late winner against Burnley means Tottenham can still steal fourth place and a final day excursion to Crystal Palace isn’t as easy as it may have appeared before the Eagles hammered Manchester United and won convincingly at Wolves.

Villa may well get the job done but it will probably be because Spurs, who go to basement club Sheffield United on the final day, fall to Manchester City on Tuesday – although that’s not a gimme as they have a great recent record against the defending champions, particularly in N17.

Liverpool are also ending the season on a low note having fallen out of the title race at the last fence, ironically with the Grand National at Aintree still fresh in the memory.

Jurgen Klopp’s tenure as Liverpool manager is nearly over (Picture: Visionhaus/Getty Images)

This will be Jurgen Klopp’s last away game as their manager and he may have to settle for a point in what promises to be an entertaining affair. A share of the spoils is 15/4 with bet365 and a 2-2 draw is 12/1 with the same firm.

Ollie Watkins is 15/8 to score at any time for Villa while Liverpool’s Louis Diaz is 5/2 with Sky Bet to hit the net.

• Naomi Osaka is 10/11 with bet365 to beat Qinwen Zhang in the women’s singles in Rome, stick her in a double with Coco Gauff to defeat Paula Badosa by over 3.5 games at the same price with the same firm.

• Stefanos Tsitsipas can advance in Rome by beating Britain’s Cameron Norrie in straight sets at 3/4 with William Hill while Felix Auger-Aliassime is 7/5 with Betway to defeat Alex de Minaur.