Liverpool vs West Ham United
On Saturday Anfield will be graced by a team which has plundered 17 goals in the last six games. Last season you’d guarantee the team was Liverpool, but right now I’m talking about West Ham United.
With the seventh round of top flight fixtures scheduled between Friday and Monday, Premier League: Liverpool vs West Ham is the third of three clashes on Saturday, following on from Manchester City’s visit to Sheffield United and Chelsea’s trip to Burnley. The second placed Reds welcome the 12th placed Hammers, and you’d naturally back a home win, as I am, but David Moyes’ West Ham has been goal-happy in recent weeks and they come up against a Liverpool side without its best defender.
But then when the hosts have a front three of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, with new man Diogo Jota pushing for a start, we’re right to expect goals; and quite possibly at both ends.
Talking Points
Reds’ defensive worries
Throughout their triumphant 2020 campaign Liverpool conceded just 33 times, the lowest tally in the league, but this season after just six games they have already conceded 14, including a bizarre 7-2 mauling at the hands of Aston Villa.
Here at SBOTOP we currently have the 2020/21 Premier League title as a three horse race, with Manchester City at odds of 2.50, just ahead of Liverpool at 2.80, and Spurs rapidly coming into the picture at 8.00. The arrival of Gareth Bale at Spurs, to complement the lethal partnership of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son is the reason Tottenham are worthy of consideration.
Equally there is a clear reason why Manchester City are favoured to pip the team which beat them by a colossal 18 points last season, and that was the injury sustained by key defender Virgil van Dijk in Liverpool’s derby draw with Everton. Summer recruit Thiago Alcantara was also crocked in that clash, but Van Dijk’s injury is more serious and he could be out for quite some time.
To compound matters Fabinho, who has started the last three games, was injured in Liverpool’s midweek Champions League tie with Midtjylland, which means head coach Jurgen Klopp is sweating on the fitness of Joel Matip who has been sidelined with a muscle strain.
Matip and Joe Gomez are the two remaining senior centre backs, and if Matip doesn’t make it then Klopp may have to bring in one of his youngsters, either Rhys Williams or Sepp van den Berg could be in line for a call up.
Liverpool would have hoped to beat Sheffield United rather easily than they eventually did last week, but the win took them up to second place and level on points with Everton.
Mo Salah is in great form again, on six goals while Diogo Jota has already weighed in with two.
Can West Ham steer clear of trouble?
The pre-match Liverpool vs West Ham betting odds point to a comfortable home win but the Hammers made a great point against Manchester City last weekend, and have recently had big wins against Leicester City (3-0) and Wolves (4-0), two teams with European calibre.
Experienced striker Michail Antonio continued his rich vein of form with a spectacular 18th minute goal against the Sky Blues, making it three for the season. And if Liverpool are to keep him quiet they need to cut off the supply from Aaron Cresswell, who has already made three assists this season.
They’ve made an encouraging start and Antonio’s form, along with that of Pablo Fornals gives Hammers fans reasons for optimism; but they will remember an even better start last season which degenerated into a desperate relegation battle. So with three great results behind them West Ham will be very keen to maintain their momentum.
History
The head to head results favour Liverpool, who have won 30 of the 51 meetings in the Premier League era, while West Ham have won 10 and there have been 11 draws.
The more recent Liverpool vs West Ham results make even better reading for the hosts.
The Reds have won five and drawn one of the last six, scoring 18 goals and conceding five. Last season Liverpool won this fixture 3-2 when Sadio Mane scored with ten minutes remaining, which gave Liverpool an 18th successive victory.
Klopp’s team has a 100 per cent record at Anfield this season and I expect that to continue on Saturday.
Betting Tip
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Liverpool vs West Ham United | Liverpool Asian Handicap -1.50 @ 2.06 |
| November 1, 01:30 (GMT+8) |
Liverpool are at odds of 1.36 to win this game, with the Hammers at 6.37 and the draw at 5.02. The Reds’ defensive woes do give some hope to the underdogs, so an alternative bet of over 3.50 goals at odds of 2.11 could be good value.
But I think Liverpool will have too much quality for their visitors and will win with a bit to spare.
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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