Crystal Palace vs Liverpool
Round two of the Premier League concludes tomorrow with an exciting prospect when Jurgen Klopp takes his Liverpool title hopefuls to Selhurst Park.
The atmosphere in the South London heartland is always bouncing when the Palace Ultras find their rhythm, and they’ll do their level best to unsettle their visitors as Liverpool hunts a second win of the season.
Both teams started with a victory, Palace won at new boys Fulham while the Reds got off to a flyer at Anfield, hammering West Ham 4-0. But the Eagles’ wily manager Roy Hodgson will prepare his team well and we can expect a good contest. Liverpool needs to go for the win after Manchester City thrashed Huddersfield to go top and Chelsea already has six points. The Premier League 2018 odds on City defending their title are already shortening.
Talking points
After making a dreadful start to the 2017/18 league season Palace, under Roy Hodgson, is a different prospect. Gone is the flaky team which could dazzle the fans and lose to anyone, as they finished the season in style and ended up in 11th place.
And the Palace fans love their manager, he is one of their own, born and bread in Croydon. His smile and affable nature belie an inner steel and keen tactical brain, and he has bags of experience having managed 16 clubs in eight different countries.
Hodgson is well known to Liverpool fans of course, managing their club for six months back in 2010, but he wasn’t really given a chance as the clamour to appoint club legend Kenny Dalglish became too loud for the Anfield board to ignore. But now he’s back home where he’s wanted.
One player, in particular, will get a rapturous welcome by the Crystal Palace fans. This week Wilfried Zaha has ended the speculation by signing a five year deal, worth £130k a week to stay at Selhurst Park. And that’s a massive statement of intent by the club, aiming high rather than cashing in on their prize asset.
Of course, Liverpool has plenty of attacking talent of its own; last year’s Golden Boot winner is already off the mark, scoring in the opening day win. But Salah isn’t the only threat the Eagles need to worry about, with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane also in the Reds’ ranks. Mane scored twice last week and even Anfield’s forgotten man Daniel Sturridge was in on the act.
Firmino often goes under the radar but is, on his day, as lethal as anyone in the league.
Klopp will be delighted with his summer recruitment. New signing Naby Keita was very impressive in midfield against the Hammers and he looks like being a key man in the Reds’ assault on the title, with his priceless combination of grit and guile.
History
After a very strong pre-season the Eagles’ win at Craven Cottage made it six victories on the bounce, while Liverpool has won five. The Reds arguably faced stiffer competition including Manchester City and Napoli, while Palace put four past both Reading and Toulouse.
Those big wins may be a hint that the Eagles have got over one of the flaws which dogged them last season, wastefulness in front of goal. Only the top six teams created more chances than Hodgson’s team. But the vastly improved Eagles ended up winning seven, drawing five and losing seven as they clambered up the table.
Zaha’s trickery was a key aspect of that improvement, and Crystal Palace won more penalties (10) than any other Premier League side last season.
Liverpool has won on the last three meetings with Palace, including a double last season, with Mane scoring in both, but the Eagles did spring a surprise, winning 2-1 at Anfield at the end of the 2016/17 season.
The hosts have a decent record against their big hitting opponents, winning seven to Liverpool’s 11, with just three draws.
Betting tip
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Crystal Palace vs Liverpool | Liverpool -1.25 @ 1.98 |
| August 21, 03:00 (GMT+8) |
Roy will have plenty of ideas up his sleeve but, you know what, I just think Liverpool will have too much firepower. They have looked in great form in pre-season and offer threats from all angles, whereas the hosts will rely on their main man Zaha.
But for an alternative, take a look at the SBOBET odds and you’ll see that over 3.00 goals is available at 1.94 and I don’t think many of us would predict a low-scoring game; and then Liverpool to be ahead at the break is 1.95.
A draw at 4.50 may look tempting, but with only three draws in the 21 previous meetings that would be unusual. And after yesterday’s Premier League 2018 results it would be okay for Palace, but not so good for Liverpool.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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|---|---|---|---|
| = €20 (Highly confident) |
 = €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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