Aston Villa vs Liverpool LIVE commentary and team news: Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane start FA Cup third round

Premier League champions Liverpool are starting a host of first-team stars, including Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, in the FA Cup against an Aston Villa youth team after the hosts were hit by a ‘significant’ coronavirus outbreak.

Villa confirmed yesterday they had a batch of positive results following tests in the build-up to the third round clash.

Manager Dean Smith and all his first-team players are therefore absent, with every Villa player in the XI making their senior debut.

Aston Villa v Liverpool: How to listen

This match will get under way at 7:45pm on Friday, January 8.

Full coverage from Villa Park will be exclusively live on talkSPORT, with our pre-match build-up starting at 7pm.

Mark Saggers will be your host and commentary will from Sam Matterface and Dean Ashton.

To tune in, click the radio player below or HERE for the live stream.

Here are the other ways to listen…

App iPhone – Download from the Apple store

Android – Download from Google Play

Radio – talkSPORT is available across the United Kingdom via DAB digital radio and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

TV – Listen to talkSPORT through your TV on the following channels: Sky: Channel 0108 Virgin Media: Channel 927 Freeview: Channel 723 Freesat: Channel 731

Aston Villa v Liverpool: Confirmed teams

The Reds have named an almost full strength midfield and attack for the game, including both Salah and Mane.

Klopp does, though, hand starts to youngster Neco William and Rhys Williams in defence, while James Milner comes in at left-back.

The hosts have been forced to name a mix of Under-18 and Under-23s, with academy coach Mark Delaney stepping in as manager.

Dominic Revan captains Villa, with not a single player in the 20-man squad boasting any senior experience.

Aston Villa: Onodi, Bridge, Revan, Walker, Rowe, Chrisene, Barry, Kesler, Sylla, Raikhy, Bogarde.

Subs: Zych, Jay-Hart, Sohna, Tait, Rowe, Young, Swinkels, Ealing, Lindley.

Liverpool: Kelleher, N Williams, R Williams, Fabinho, Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Jones, Mane, Minamino, Salah.

Subs: Alisson, Thiago, Firmino, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Origi, Shaqiri, Robertson, Phillips, Alexander-Arnold.

Getty Images - Getty

Aston Villa v Liverpool: Match stats and facts

• Aston Villa have lost six of their last seven FA Cup games against Liverpool, though they did win the last such meeting between the sides in the 2015 semi-final at Wembley (2-1).
• On each of the last three occasions Liverpool have eliminated Aston Villa from the FA Cup they’ve gone on to reach the final (1987-88, 1991-92 and 1995-96).
• Since beating Liverpool in the 2014-15 semi-final, Aston Villa have lost their last three FA Cup games against Premier League sides by an aggregate score of 0-10.
• Liverpool have been eliminated from four of their last six FA Cup ties against fellow Premier League sides, with the two exceptions in that run both coming in third round matches against Everton (2-1 in 2017-18, 1-0 in 2019-20).