Jose Mourinho takes Manchester United to Anfield on Saturday hoping to keep up the pressure at the top of the Premier League table.
United are currently second in the standings, with just one goal difference between them and leaders Manchester City.
Liverpool’s patchy start to the season sees them down in 7th place, but they will almost certainly raise their game against their bitter rivals on Saturday.
Both sides can be backed at 13/8 to win the game, with the draw available at 23/10.
Mourinho will need to shuffle his pack in midfield, with Marouane Fellaini and Paul Pogba both ruled out through injury. Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku will be in the line-up after shaking off an ankle problem.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has come in for plenty of criticism over recent weeks and he faces a big selection headache for Saturday’s game following the news that forward Sadio Mane is out for six weeks with a hamstring injury.
Klopp’s side are already seven points behind United after just seven games, and his failure to resolve their defensive issues continues to hinder his chances of restoring the club to its former glories.
Lukaku will relish facing the likes of Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren and odds of 6/1 to score two or more goals at Anfield certainly looks worth a wager.
He is also available at 13/10 at https://www.sunbets.co.uk/sports/betting/Football to score at any time during the game, and that looks too good to ignore.
Both games between these two sides ended in draws last term, but United are a much-improved side this time around.
Liverpool desperately needs to win the game if they are to be taken seriously as title challengers and that could lead to them leaving plenty of gaps for United to exploit.
With Mane on the sidelines Liverpool could struggle to trouble United’s defence, so odds of 18/1 for a 3-1 away victory looks appealing.
While United’s performances this season have drawn comparisons with the glory years under Sir Alex Ferguson, Liverpool have been far less impressive.
A 4-0 victory over Arsenal was something of a false dawn and the Reds have looked a shambles at the back in many of their games.
Only Crystal Palace and West Ham have conceded more goals than Klopp’s side this term, but he appears to be in denial that there is a problem.
Switching to three centre-halves and wing-backs could potentially help shore up their defence, although Klopp’s stubbornness is likely to see him employ his usual 4-3-3 formation.
Should he choose to take a more defensive approach the 15/2 on offer for a 1-0 home win would be of interest, but it’s difficult to see how United won’t score on Saturday.
Liverpool have players who are capable of hurting teams, with the likes of Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah all possible threats to United’s backline.
Salah was in superb form for Egypt during their recent World Cup qualifiers and he can be backed at 9/4 to get on the scoresheet this weekend.
Coutinho grabbed the opener in Liverpool’s 1-1 draw at Newcastle in their last game and he’s 8/1 to repeat the trick against United.
Liverpool’s form this season doesn’t suggest they are in a position to turn United over, and they would probably take a point if they were offered it before the game. A 1-1 scoreline is priced at 11/2, while 2-2 available at 12/1.
United look decent value at 13/8 to pick up three points and make it seven wins out of eight in the league this season.
Coutinho and Salah are capable of hitting the target, so backing both teams to score and United to win at 4/1 could yield a decent profit.
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