LFC vs Villa (12.10am 12 Ogos)

ASTON VILLA V LIVERPOOL: STAT ATTACK
10 August 2007

All the relevant stats, facts and figures ahead of Liverpool's opening 2007/2008 Barclays Premier League fixture away to Aston Villa at Villa Park with official LFC statistician Ged Rea.

ASTON VILLA v LIVERPOOL
Overall Record (League): Liverpool 77 wins, Aston Villa 51 wins, 36 Draws. At Villa Park: Liverpool 25 wins, Aston Villa 37 wins, 20 Draws.

This will be the ninth time in the last 12 seasons Liverpool have started their League campaign with an away fixture and their fourth in succession. They have lost just three of the last 31 opening day fixtures. They were beaten away at Wolves in 1981 and Nottingham Forest in 1992 and were defeated by Chelsea at Anfield in 2003. However, they have yet to win an opening day fixture under Rafa Benitez with their last success coming on this ground in 2002 when John Arne Riise scored the only goal of the game.
Liverpool's biggest ever win on the opening day of a League campaign came in 1994 when they won 6-1 at Crystal Palace. The last Liverpool player to score a hat-trick on the opening day was John Aldridge at Charlton in 1988. He is one of only four players to achieve the feat for the Reds.

This is the fifth time the two sides have met on the opening day with the previous four meetings providing two victories each. Liverpool are four goals short of recording 7,000 in their League history.

They also require one point to become the fourth team to reach 1,000 points in the Premiership following Manchester United (1232), Arsenal (1081) and Chelsea (1013). Since the inception of the Premier League, Liverpool have won 16, Villa eight with six draws. Last season the sides played out a goalless draw on this ground.

Last season (in October) Liverpool won 3-1 to end the only unbeaten record in English football. Dirk Kuyt, Peter Crouch and Luis Garcia all scored in the last 14 minutes of the first half. Gabriel Agbonlahor scored a 56th minute consolation for the visitors.

Liverpool's last win on this ground came in November 2005 with Steven Gerrard (penalty) and Xabi Alonso scoring in the last five minutes to give the Reds a 2-0 victory. Liverpool are unbeaten in their last nine League visits to Villa Park. Their last defeat here came in February 1998 when, despite Michael Owen scoring an early penalty, they lost 2-1 with ex-Red Stan Collymore scoring twice.

Liverpool have lost only one of the last 17 meetings with Villa in all competitions. That defeat was in September 2001 when the Midlanders won 3-1 at Anfield. Villa have scored only twice in their last eight home games against Liverpool in the Premiership. Liverpool's biggest ever win at Villa Park came in January 1925 when they won 4-1. Seven years later they suffered their heaviest loss when they were beaten 6-1.

The last Liverpool player to score a hat-trick against Villa was Michael Owen who hit three first half goals in the 3-1 win at Anfield in September 2000. Only two Liverpool players have scored a League hat-trick at Villa Park - Ian Rush in January 1984 and Robbie Fowler in November 1998. Two others have achieved the feat at Anfield-Bobby Graham (1964) and Owen in 2000.

The last Villa player to score a hat-trick against the Reds was George Brown in January 1932 when he scored four in his sides 6-1 win. Jamie Carragher's first goal for Liverpool was scored against Villa at Anfield in January 1997. Steven Gerrard was sent off playing against Villa at Anfield in September 2001. Yossi Benayoun's first goal in English football was scored against Aston Villa at Upton Park for West Ham in a 4-0 win in September 2005. The other three goals were scored by Marlon Harewood who ironically joined Villa from the Hammers last month. Peter Crouch joined today's opponents from Portsmouth in March 2002 for £4 million. Harry Kewell's last away goal for Liverpool came on this ground in December 2004. Jermaine Pennant could make the 200th appearance of his club career if selected. Fernando Torres will aim to succeed previous club record signings Djibril Cisse (at Tottenham in 2004) and Stan Collymore (against Sheffield Wednesday at Anfield in 1995) who both scored on their Premiership debut. Should the Spanish international find the net he will become the first Liverpool player to score on his league debut since Abel Xavier in a 6-0 win at Ipswich Town in February 2002. The last two players to be sent off in this fixture at Villa Park strangely played for both clubs. Stan Collymore (Villa) was dismissed in 1998 and the following year Liverpool's Steve Staunton 'controversially' received his marching orders though that red card was later rescinded. Last season Villa finished 11th winning seven, drawing eight and losing four at home. They scored 43 goals and conceded 41 in 38 games. They were the only team in the bottom half to have a positive goal difference. They finished the season undefeated in their last nine league games of the campaign. They also started the season with nine unbeaten games. In between they won just four and lost nine of the 20 games. Despite finishing 18 points behind Liverpool last season they lost the same number of games as the Reds - (10). Villa have won just one of their last seven opening day games, drawing four and losing two.