Gerard Houllier makes his first competitive return to Liverpool on Monday evening with Premier League points more precious than sentimental memories on his Anfield home-coming.
Houllier’s Aston Villa team head for Merseyside anxious for a positive result after drifting towards the relegation places with back-to-back defeats against Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal.
Indeed, the claret and blues could be out of the bottom three on goal difference alone come kick-off at 8pm on Monday if results conspire against them and Wigan Athletic beat Stoke City on Saturday afternoon.
However, Houllier is refusing to panic about Villa’s precarious position, staying calm using the experience he honed during his spell in the Anfield hotseat between 1998 and 2004.
The Frenchman won the Uefa Cup, FA Cup and League Cup treble in 2001 and was expected to go on and boost the Reds trophy haul further until major surgery following a heart attack later than year.
Houllier’s health problems halted his momentum on Merseyside and he would later admit that returning to the dugout just five months after his operation was a mistake.
His latest return to the Anfield touchline represents a significant moment in his Villa tenure where his team have gleaned just a third of the points on offer with ten from ten top flight games.
Houllier can point to a crippling injury list which has at times reached double figures and has included senior players such as captain Stiliyan Petrov, Nigel Reo-Coker, Steve Sidwell and Carlos Cuellar.
Former Reds striker Emile Heskey has also been sidelined by a knee problem, although he has an outside chance of facing Jamie Carragher-less Liverpool after returning to light training.
Carragher, a keen admirer of Houllier, for helping his Anfield career get started, will be out for the next three months after dislocating a shoulder in last weekend’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.
It is a setback which sums up a frustrating time for Roy Hodgson who has struggled to stamp his mark on Liverpool since taking over in the summer.
While there was financial uncertainty rumbling on in the background at Liverpool results on the field suffered and although they have climbed up to mid-table they are still plagued by inconsistency.
Luke Young, the Villa defender who turned down a close season move to Anfield, is likely to be part of a claret and blue backline looking for a clean sheet after conceding 24 goals, compared to the 17 scored by Houllier’s men.
