Last season Liverpool sent their under-23s to Villa Park for the Carabao Cup quarter-final while the first team was in Qatar for the Club World Cup.
This time it is Aston Villa’s turn to field a team of youngsters because of a wave of positive Covid-19 tests washing through the West Midlands club.
Neither boss Dean Smith nor his first team stars will be present on Friday night. Instead under-23s boss Mark Delaney will take charge and send out a team of youngsters in an ironic reversal of last season.
Liverpool meanwhile will be able to rely on a number of first team regulars, though don’t be surprised to see Jurgen Klopp rotate his squad.
Read more on mirror.co.uk