Liverpool vs Leicester City
All eyes will be on Anfield on Saturday for the big match of the weekend; Premier League Liverpool vs Leicester City.
It’s first against third, two attacking sides with sky-high ambitions and the return of an old favourite to Merseyside. Former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers brings his Leicester City side to take on the league leaders and European Champions, but without fear. The Anfield faithful know how good a coach Rodgers is.
The Foxes are flying, up in third and with serious chances of a top-four place. While Liverpool and Manchester City look set to fight it out for the title once again, third and fourth is up for grabs and Leicester compares pretty favourably with Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United right now.
Jurgen Klopp’s side kept its 100 per cent record with a rather scruffy victory over Sheffield United last week, and with Pep Guardiola’s Sky Blues breathing down their necks the Reds need to pull out their best performance of the season to keep things moving.
Talking Points
Brendan is Back
Few on the red side of Merseyside will ever forget how close Brendan Rodgers came to leading their side to a long-awaited Premier League back in 2014. Poor Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip against Chelsea was the moment the dream began to fade, but Rodgers’ side thrilled Premier League fans with an attack-minded approach, spearheaded by Luis Suarez.
Now he returns with the Foxes, similarly creative and with a lethal cutting edge, it’s a return which the Kop will greet warmly until the whistle blows.
Foxes can be better than the Class of 2016
A recent win over Spurs was hard-fought indeed but it outlined how ready the Foxes are to take on the best in the league. A stunning goal from James Maddison was as good as anything Riyad Mahrez produced during the 2015/16 campaign. Since his move from Norwich, the young English star has become Leicester’s most creative talent. There have been suggestions that Liverpool could make a move for Maddison in the January window, but I think they’d have to shell out a cool £100m for the Foxes to even to consider a sale, and fend off interest from both the Manchester clubs.
Just as N’Golo Kante dominated the midfield back in 2016, Wilfred N’Didi has the ability to break up play, surge forward and find the killer pass. And in Youri Tielemans Leicester has a real gem. In Leicester’s 5-0 destruction of Newcastle United, he had four shots and made 11 crosses as he pulled the strings in the final third.
Central defender Jonny Evans is as accomplished as most in the league, and Leicester doesn’t seem to be missing Harry Maguire since his big-money move to Manchester United.
Claudio Ranieri didn’t have a wing-back of the pace and promise of Ben Chilwell in his armoury, but two of the league winners are still vital components of Rodgers’ team. Of course, Jamie Vardy and Kasper Schmeichel were the key men at either end of the pitch throughout the Foxes’ 2016 fairytale.
Vardy has five goals, more than any Liverpool striker so far; but Mane, Salah and Firmino aren’t far behind on four, four and three.
The very latest Liverpool vs Leicester City betting odds have Liverpool at 1.47 to win this contest, with Leicester or draw at 2.54. Plenty of Foxes fans will fancy that!
Reds’ hungry strikers
They’ve scored 11 goals between them so far but they are desperate for more. So much so that Mane and Salah had a public row after a 0-3 win over Burnley. Mane was furious with his strike partner for not passing to him during an attack, instead choosing to shoot and miss.
Klopp will be delighted his team won’t settle for second best (again) and he’ll need Mane’s passion to shine through again on Saturday.
History
The Reds are on a 16 match winning run in the Premier League but needed a big hand from Sheffield United keeper Dean Henderson to beat the Blades, as he let Gini Wijnaldum’s long-range shot sneak through his legs.
Meanwhile, Leicester has put together a winning streak of three matches.
The head to head Liverpool vs Leicester City results are in the Reds’ favour, having won half of the 28 games between these two teams in the Premier League era, while the Foxes have triumphed eight times and there have been six draws.
Liverpool hasn’t lost this fixture at Anfield in the last eight meetings but there was a 1-1 draw here last season.
Betting Tip
Liverpool vs Leicester City | Leicester City Asian Handicap +1.25 @ 1.88 | |
October 05, 22:00 (GMT+8) |
The latest odds here at SBOBET have the draw at 4.30 and a repeat of last season’s result wouldn’t surprise me at all.
Liverpool is a winning machine at the moment, but a tough game against Sheffield United followed by a midweek Champions League game is testing before they even welcome the Foxes.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR () BETS ARE WORTH: | |||
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= €20 (Highly confident) | = €10 (CONFIDENT) | = €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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