Verdict: Total home goals over 2.5
Best odds: 8/11
Bookmaker: Betfair
After a short break to acommodate the fourth round of the FA Cup, the Premier League is has resumed through the week. Several matches were played on Tuesday, some on Wednesday, and on Thursday, Liverpool will be hosting Leicester City at Anfield in what will be the 23rd match of the campaign for them, and 21st for the visitors.
Liverpool
As things stand at the moment, Liverpool are probably the only team still in with a shot, albeit a slim one, of catching Manchester City in the title race. It’s not really a surprise, despite the fact that many pundits didn’t even include them in the conversations about it last summer. After all, Liverpool are the team that posed the biggest challenge for Pep Guardiola’s team, the only team to have stopped City from winning the crown four times in the last four seasons.
Liverpool strengthened their attacking ranks in January with the €45m (plus €15-20m in add-ons) signing of Luis Diaz from FC Porto. Their determination to get the Colombian winger appears to say that they have no mind to give up the title race, despite sitting nine points behind Manchester City. After all, they have a game in hand on the defending champions, quite apart from the fact that the two teams will face each other directly once more before the end. If the gap does not increase between now and then, and they win their game in hand, and win at the Etihad, the race will be in their hands.
Liverpool’s recent form certainly indicates that such talk still has a place in the real world. They won five and drew one of their last six matches in all competitions, and manager Jurgen Klopp was without the services of his best attacking players in Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane for all of them. The run began with a 4-1 triumph over Shrewsbury Town in the third round of the FA Cup. Then they played a goalless draw at home against Arsenal in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal, smashed Brentford in the league by 3-0 at home, beat Arsenal in the second leg at the Emirates by 0-2, beat Crystal Palace 1-3 at Selhurst Park, and eventually beat Cardiff City in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
It should be noted that Liverpool face Inter Milan in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 next week, right after they play Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday.
Team News
Having won the African Cup of Nations with Senegal, Mane still isn’t back with the team and won’t be before the start of next week. On the other hand, Salah has already returned to training and has expressed his wish to play against Leicester, even though he was offered the same amount of time off as Mane after his Egypt lost to Mane’s Senegal in the final.
It may sound highly unusual, but Klopp should have the full squad to choose from, apart from Mane. Having made his debut and recorded an assist against Cardiff, Luis Diaz is likely to get his first start in the Red shirt, deputizing for Mane on the left attacking flank. If deemed ready for the full 90 minutes, Salah will start on the right, but if not, the spot will likely be taken by Diogo Jota with Roberto Firmino playing through the middle.
It remains to be seen if teenage star Harvey Elliott is named to start in midfield, after returning from long-term injury with a bang of a goal against Cardiff.
Leicester City
Leicester had a rather busy summer last year in terms of transfers. Having narrowly missed out on top four last season, mostly due to Liverpool’s surprising late resurgence, they were widely expected to do a lot better this time around, particularly after winning the FA Cup and beating Manchester City for the Community Shield. They signed striker Patson Daka, winger Ademola Lookman (loan), midfielder Boubakary Soumare, centre-back Jannik Vestergaard, as well as left-back Ryan Bertrand; all rather notable additions.
Therefore, their supporters can only look on the Premier League table in utter disappointment. At the moment, Leicester are 10th with 26 points, though they’re one of only three teams in the league to have played just 20 matches so far. There is still time to improve their chances of a successful conclusion to the season, but they’ve got to act fast.
They won’t, however, be acting in the FA Cup anymore, having suffered a shocking defeat to Championship side Nottingham Forest on Sunday. As for the Carabao Cup, they were knocked out in the quarterfinals by none other than Liverpool, even though Brendan Rodgers had deployed a very strong lineup against a heavily rotated one representing his former club.
The Foxes played in the Europa League this season, but they were eliminated there as well, after finishing third in Group C, behind Spartak Moscow and Napoli, and ahead of Legia Warsaw. They will now face Danish side Randers in the Europa Conference League.
Team News
Leicester have an AFCON winner of their own in Nampalys Mendy, and like Liverpool’s Mane, Nampalys Mendy will miss this match as well.
Quite apart from that, Rodgers is without a number of key players for his return to Anfield, due to various injury issues. Striker Jamie Vardy, centre-backs Jonny Evans and Wesley Fofana, as well as fullbacks Timothy Castagne and Ryan Bertrand, are all set to miss out. Daka, Soumare and Marc Albrighton are likely to come into the team.
Conclusion
Leicester are one of only two teams to have beaten Liverpool this season, not only in the league but in all competitions (West Ham are the other), but that will not help them much on Thursday. If anything, it will provide the Merseysiders with added motivation to deliver and set the matter right in front of their supporters, any anything but a convincing win for the home side would be a huge surprise.
Verdict: Total home goals over 2.5
Best odds: 8/11
Bookmaker: Betfair
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