Prediction: Burnley vs Liverpool

Verdict: Total goals under 2.5

Best odds: 27/20

Bookmaker: Unibet

Burnely are set to welcome Liverpool to Turf Moor on Sunday, in what will be a match between two teams in desperate need for points, though for completely different reasons. It will be the 24th match of the Premier League season for the visitors, and the 21st for the home side.

Burnley

The Clarets were among the teams most heavily hit by the upsurge in COVID-19 cases this winter, and that’s the main reason why they’ve only played 20 matches so far, the fewest in the league. It is arguably also the reason for them sitting at the bottom of the table at the moment with no more than 14 points to their name, one less than Watford in 19th, three less than Norwich City in 18th, and four less than Newcastle United in 17th place, the last to provide survival at the end of the campaign.

Burnley’s last six matches in all competitions saw them beaten by Manchester United at Old Trafford by 3-1, beaten by Leeds United at Elland Road by the same scoreline, and beaten by Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup at home by 1-2. After that appalling run, they managed to stay undefeated as they drew without goals away to Arsenal and at home against Watford, and eventually 1-1 at home against Manchester United.

Paul Pogba scored the opener for the 20-time English champions, but Burnley’s new signing Wout Weghorst spun Harry Maguire and Scott McTominay around before playing Jay Rodriguez through, and Rodriguez made no mistake from close range.

Manager Sean Dyche has managed to keep the Clarets in the Premier League for quite a long time, taking them even into the qualifications for the Europa League at one point, but now he faces a great challenge to pull them out of the danger zone once more.

Team News

Liverpool

Unlike Burnley, Liverpool need the points from this match to stay with Manchester City in the title race. Going into the weekend, City are ahead by nine points, though Liverpool have a game in hand on the defending champions, and the two teams are yet to take each other on in April. The race seemed all but over before the previous round, but then City unexpectedly dropped points away to Southampton and it’s been blown open again.

Liverpool have shown fine form recently. Many expected them to stumble while Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were away at the African Cup of Nations, but not only did they stay pretty much on their feet, they also added Luis Diaz to their ranks and the former Porto winger has already shown his presence in the second half of the season should be a considerable boost.

As for their last-six run, the Merseysiders played a goalless draw at home in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semifinal clash against Arsenal, then beat Brentford at home by 3-0, beat Arsenal away in the second leg by 0-2, beat Crystal Palace away by 1-3, beat Cardiff City in the fourth round of the FA Cup by 3-1, and eventually beat Leicester City at home by 2-0 on Thursday. Diogo Jota was the man who scored both goals in a contest which Jurgen Klopp’s team thoroughly dominated.

Team News

It feels strange to say this, but Klopp seems to have the full squad at his disposal. There are no injury absentees. The only question at the moment is whether Mane, who has only just returned to training following his AFCON triumph with Senegal, will be deemed ready to play the full 90 minutes. If not, he’ll likely be named on the bench, with Diaz starting in his place.

Mo Salah will certainly start after coming on off the bench against Leicester, probably in the place of Roberto Fimino who didn’t have a great game. It means Jota will probably start as the central attacker.

Elsewhere, Klopp shouldn’t be making many changes, though Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or Harvey Elliott could replace Curtis Jones in midfield.

Conclusion

With all due respect to Burnley, as well as the fact that the Clarets have been known to cause Liverpool unexpected problems in recent years, anything but a Liverpool win would be a huge surprise here. Not that the Merseysiders will find creating chances easy; there shouldn’t be too many of those, and not too many goals either, of course.

Verdict: Total goals under 2.5

Best odds: 27/20

Bookmaker: Unibet