Liverpool warned Aston Villa can't afford to lose amid 'best season in decades'

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Their opponents, on the other hand, have a chance to cap off another season that looks likely to bring Champions League qualification with a first trophy in 30 years if they can beat Freiburg to win the Europa League next Wednesday (May 20).Unai Emery's side will secure immortality if they can break their current major trophy drought, which has lasted since the Villans won the League Cup in 1996 - but according to Birmingham Live's Aston Villa writer John Townley, all focus will be on the Premier League clash five days beforehand.The ECHO spoke to John to get the Villa perspective ahead of a match in which a win would confirm a top-five finish for either side."Villa have thrown away some big opportunities in recent weeks," Townley told the ECHO. "They drew at [Nottingham] Forest when they should have won, before losing to Fulham and Tottenham."The draw at Burnley was also frustrating, just days after their 4-0 win over Forest to book their place in the Europa League final."Losing against Liverpool would pile on more pressure ahead of the Europa League final."Indeed, Villa have won just one of their last five in the league, Tammy Abraham scoring a dramatic late winner against Sunderland after the Birmingham side had conspired to throw away a two-goal lead.If they finish outside the top five, a Villa victory in the Europa League final would give England six representatives in next season's Champions League - with fifth place bringing guaranteed qualification thanks to the European Performance Spot and the Europa League winners qualifying automatically.Avoiding a scenario where qualification still hangs in the balance on Wednesday night is paramount if Villa are to play with freedom against Freiburg, but Townley expects Emery to ring the changes anyway."Emery will rotate," he said, "or perhaps start his best players but take them off after the hour mark.

Changes were made, but the players who were on the pitch needed to show more fight, passion and determination to get a result."If Bournemouth lose against Manchester City this weekend and Brighton drop points away at Leeds, the result at Villa Park could prove to be academic in any case - but neither Villa nor Liverpool will want the pressure of letting it run down to the wire.Despite a poor start to the season, Villa looked nailed on to secure a top-three finish until Manchester United's revival under Michael Carrick and their own loss of form.Liverpool supporters, meanwhile, would be forgiven for wondering how the Reds have ended up in such a promising position for qualification after their rivals failed to capitalise on awful runs of form in both halves of the season.But as the two sides meet, it is Villa supporters who are reflecting on what could turn out to be a season that lives long in the memory.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook page"Villa had a woeful start," Townley said, "but an exceptional middle third of the season, winning 11 matches in a row in all competitions."Their form since the turn of the year has been quite poor, truth be told, but it's not easy to manage both the league and Europe."However, achieving a top-five finish and winning the Europa League would represent Villa's best season in decades."Winning the Europa League would inevitably adjust fan expectations ahead of next season for a club that was in the Championship seven years ago - could it be a watershed moment for a new era at Villa?"It would be," Townley said.

Watkins has struggled for much of the season, but has started to show form again since being left out of the England squad in March."Harvey Elliott, meanwhile, the Liverpool midfielder who looked set to join Villa permanently at the end of the season when signing on loan last summer, has been frozen out almost completely and will rejoin Arne Slot's side for pre-season.A curious quirk of Villa's season has been the complete absence of any penalties awarded to them in the league - something which has left Townley completely at a loss to explain."There have been a few decisions that have gone against them this season, but every club can say that," he told the ECHO."Aside from [Emi] Buendia scoring his penalty against Forest, Villa have a poor record from the spot, so it's never a given that they'd actually score one."Buendia, Rogers, Watkins and [Youri] Tielemans have all missed penalties since the start of last season. Villa also lost a penalty shootout against Brentford in the Carabao Cup."Villa may have the lowest possession numbers in the top five and only the 12th-most big chances created in the league, but Watkins and Rogers are both in the top 7% of Premier League players in their position for touches in the opposition box, making the lack of any penalty awards a head-scratcher that will have undoubtedly infuriated their supporters.Somehow, Villa have defied analysts' predictions of a drop-off, even though low-xG performances still led to goals earlier in the season.With quality distance shooters such as McGinn and Rogers in the ranks, they have managed to find a way to win at the most important moments - but that hasn't prevented a sense of what could have been after Villa's mid-season form put them briefly in the title conversation.For Townley, the main problem preventing the Villans from maintaining their form over the course of the whole season was the midfield being ripped out of the team when three key players picked up injuries around the turn of the year.He said: "When Villa's xG has been greater than their opponent, they have still lost games.