England Premier League
Sunday 16th January 2022
Kick off at 2pm GMT
Venue: Anfield
Match Preview:
Liverpool will be favourites of course to win this game on Sunday against Brentford but will be missing the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane due to the Africa Cup of Nations and so the Reds come into this game looking disjointed and may not be able to put in the usual performance that would be expected.
As for the league title many believe that the Reds have little chance to mount a challenge but there is still some hope even if it is slim and that lies in the fact that Jurgen Klopp’s side have a game in hand over league leaders Manchester City. But the reality is that Liverpool come into this weekend 11 points behind City.
Liverpool had to play in midweek as they faced Arsenal in the EFL Cup semi-final 1st leg at Anfield, it was a game that finished 0-0 which really opens up the 2nd leg but Liverpool will feel disappointed that a team they dispatched 4-0 here earlier in the season held them so well. The other factor of course is that Arsenal were playing with 10 men after Granit Xhaka was sent off. Again if we go back to the missing players for Liverpool it is going to have an effect and some will feel that Arsenal are now the slight favourites to make the final and play Chelsea.
In the league Liverpool are dropping points and have not won a game since December 16th when they beat Newcastle at home. Since then they drew 2-2 at Tottenham, lost 1-0 at Leicester and then drew 2-2 at Chelsea, some difficult fixtures aside the worry is the defence have been leaking more goals than would have been liked.
Brentford are in 13th place and this season has to be about survival which the club are well on course to do. They will be looking to get another 12 points from their remaining 18 games and should be able to do so. Form for the club is not good coming into this one though where they have lost 3 from their last four games. The club were stuffed 4-1 at Southampton last Monday. Away from home the Bees have picked up just 2 points from their last 15 on offer and have conceded 8 goals in their last 3 games.
Depending on other results around them Brentford could go 10th with victory here and even a draw could move them past Southampton in 12th.
Team News:
Liverpool: Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita are on international duty. Divock Origi is out with a knee injury. Thiago Alcantara has an on going hip injury.
Brentford: Sergi Canos has recovered from his hamstring injury and is expected to return for this game. Henry Rico will be assessed for a lack of match fitness. Frank Onyeka is on international duty. Zanka has a lack of match fitness after a long injury lay off and remains a doubt for this game. Josh Da Silva and David Raya Martin are both out for at least another six weeks.
Liverpool vs Brentford Head to Head:
Earlier in the season in the reverse fixture the teams drew 3-3.
Before that game the clubs had not met since 1989 when they played in the FA Cup and Liverpool won 4-0.
The last league game played between the two clubs at Anfield came back in 1946.
Liverpool vs Brentford Prediction:
Even with some key players out Liverpool are around 1.25 to win this game so not many will be backing the straight full time win. Brentford will try and go for this and try to enjoy themselves at the famous Anfield stadium and that means we could see a very enjoyable game. In truth Brentford lack the quality and there is a gulf between the teams but the Bees have done so well up until now they can afford to take some risks in this game.
The worry for Brentford is their recent away form having said that Liverpool’s current form is nothing special and they will need to be fully focused and put in a professional display here. This is why we don’t expect to see 6 goals like we did the last time these teams met. This needs to be an assured display because Liverpool cannot afford to drop points in this one. We will back Diogo Jota to step up in some of the other forwards absence and get on the score sheet and he is a good price to do so.
Liverpool vs Brentford Betting Tips:
Correct Score: Liverpool to win 2-0 or 3-0 at 6.00 and 8.00
Anytime goalscorer: Diogo Jota at 1.91
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