England Premier League
Saturday 18th September 2021
Kick off at 3pm BST
Venue: Anfield
Match Preview:
Liverpool are looking slick and are unbeaten in the league as they head into this game. The wins are coming and so are the goals and all seems well at the club for now. The mid-season collapse we witnessed last season feels like a distant memory so this is good news for manager Jurgen Klopp.
Last weekend Liverpool who dropped 2 points in the same fixture last season played to their strengths to beat Leeds away from home 3-0. But it will be their European midweek fixture that will be remembered. Playing Italian giants Milan at home Liverpool ran out 3-2 winners in a very exciting game that saw the Reds take the lead then go down 2-1 by half time but win in the end. It was a typical swashbuckling performance from the club on another special European night at Anfield. All of this means that the 2020 champions come into this game with a great deal of confidence.
Crystal Palace will be the underdogs that is for sure but at least the Eagles are starting to play some good football under new manager Patrick Vieira. That was emphasised with a fantastic 3-0 victory last weekend at home to Tottenham. The result was no mean feat, playing a side who were not only top of the league but had not conceded a goal up until then. Tottenham came crashing down and the Eagles soared to the sky and this was partial evidence that Palace have made the right choice in obtaining Vieira’s signature. Vieira would have been delighted by Odsonne Edouard who came off the bench to score two goals for Christian Benteke and we could expect Edouard to be given the nod in an attacking line up that would feature the in form Wilfried Zaha, himself scorer of a goal against Tottenham and an assist.
Vieira is a studier of the game and while he may be new to the Premier League for his managerial skills he did have a couple of good seasons at Nice in Ligue 1. Palace have climbed up to 11th place and are now unbeaten in their last 3 games, as for Liverpool they have played at home two times this season and beat Burnley and drew with Chelsea.
Team News:
Liverpool: Harvey Elliott is out long term after sustaining a serious injury last weekend with his ankle. Roberto Firmino has a hamstring and remains a major doubt for this game.
Crystal Palace: Jeffrey Schlupp has a hamstring injury, Nathan Ferguson is long term with his Achilles.
Liverpool vs Crystal Palace Head to Head:
Last season Liverpool won this match 2-0.
Liverpool have scored 13 goals past Crystal Palace in the last 3 meetings and 7 of those goals came from either Sadio Mane or Mohamed Salah.
It’s been 10 games since Crystal Palace recorded a win over Liverpool going back to 2017 however that victory did come at Anfield where the club won 2-1.
3 from the last 5 meetings has seen over 3.5 goals.
Liverpool vs Crystal Palace Prediction
Backing Liverpool for the win will not be realistic for most punters given they are big odds on, that goes with the territory for such a club being at home. Palace have improved too and will come well prepared one expects. At the same time if we judge Palace solely on playing one of the bigger clubs away from home we look at the Chelsea result and they were soundly beaten 3-0.
An interesting market could be backing Liverpool to be winning at the half way stage, and nothing suggests that they will not get off to a quick and positive start. As mentioned earlier both Salah and Mane like playing Palace and they could both be worth a punt here.
Palace are learning all the time and unless they fold quick, if Liverpool score early on we expect that the Reds will have to dig deep here to get all three points, think their recent game against Burnley at home which they won 2-0 but probably expected a higher score.
Liverpool vs Crystal Palace Betting Tips:
Half Time: Liverpool to beat Crystal Palace at 1.57
Anytime goalscorer: Mohamed Salah at 1.62
Anytime goalscorer: Sadio Mane at 2.00
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