The Merseyside Derby this Saturday lunchtime will see last season’s 2nd and 5th placed teams in the Premier League come face to face at Anfield for the 223rd top flight meeting in this fixture.
The difference this term for both of these two giant clubs of the English game is the added pressure and stress of European competition. Liverpool returned to the Champions League a week ago with a last minute win over lowly Ludogrets, while Everton enjoyed a rousing 4-1 victory against a strong Wolfsburg outfit. The Mighty Reds and The Toffees then went on to lose their subsequent League matches to West Ham and Crystal Palace, respectively.
Brendan Rodgers has admitted that the midweek European action has been disrupting Liverpool’s usual preparation routine’s which proved so successful in the previous campaign.
Roberto Martinez’s Everton squad is too thin to rotate, and this could become a problem for the Spaniard as the season progresses. He made minmal changes to the side for the Palace game and this resulted in some tired legs as the game slipped away from The Blues in the second half.
The Capital One Cup has denied these youthful managers a full week of unencumbered training, but Rodgers and Martinez should still be able to focus all their energies on the upcoming Derby by fielding reserve sides against Middlesbrough and Swansea on Tuesday night.
Everton are looking for revenge after the 4-0 counter-attacking mauling that was dished out to them in January by Suarez & Co. With the Uruguayan now plying his trade in Catalonia, and his fellow strike partner, Daniel Sturridge, out injured, we may see a less goal strewn encounter than the two fixtures from last season which produced 10 goals (the 3-3 draw at Goodison Park being one of the highlights of the 2013/14 campaign). However, Martinez does not seem to waver, in a tactical sense, from his expansive and attacking approach to trying to win football matches.
The naivete of Everton’s play, since we kicked off in August, has seen them concede 13 goals from 5 matches, the highest tally in the League, while their incisive forward movement has clocked them 11 goals over the same period. I would expect to see an open, exciting Derby with Over 2.5 goals scored, as there have been in 17 of Liverpool’s last 19 games in the Premier League.
Large stake on Over 2.5 goals – 1.62 Euro odds or 31/50 UK.
Although the Mighty Reds have won 3 out of the last 4 games at Anfield, I think Everton have shown enough attacking form to get something out of this match.
With the bookmakers heavily favouring Liverpool, I believe the best value odds are to go for a medium stake bet on Double Chance for Everton at 2.0 Euro odds or 1/1 UK.
If you like these free tips, please visit our main site here to enquire about joining our professional service.
