Premier League Betting Preview: Liverpool vs. Tottenham Hotspur – Battle of the press
Sunday afternoon sees Liverpool take on Spurs in an eagerly anticipated Premier League encounter. On show will be the league’s two current top scorers, Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah. Kane is out in front coming of the back of the year of his life in 2017 – he currently has 21 Premier League strikes, at a rate of 93 minutes per goal. Salah is two behind on 19, at rate of a goal every 98 minutes. There’s very little to choose between the two, although the Egyptian does have six assists in the league compared to Kane’s one, making him the player involved in the most Premier League goals so far this season at 25.
It’s no surprise the bookies are expecting goals in this one. In fact, you can get odds of 9/4 for a Liverpool win, but with both teams to score with 10Bet.
Salah has been an absolute revelation so far this season and it’s his form that has softened the inevitable blow of losing Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona. The fab four, is now down to three but the remaining three all offer something different and bring a real balance to Jurgen Klopp’s team. Salah may quite rightly be taking all the plaudits but both Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane have certainly played their part. Firmino in particular has been in great form of late and his part bulldozing part sublime performance in the recent win against Manchester City highlights his importance to this team. He again found the net in Tuesday’s win at Huddersfield, as of course did Salah.
If Liverpool are to take the game to Spurs and defeat their rivals while staking a claim for a top four place, they’ll need to find a performance just like the City game where they pressed and harried the league’s best team into making mistakes at the back. This pressing game is key to how Klopp wants his team to play. Pushing his own side up the pitch and forcing mistakes from the opposition. However, this is exactly what Mauricio Pochettino instructs his charges to do too. The game will get compressed, space will be limited and it’s down to those players with the nous to find room that could turn this one.
Spurs have two of those in their side in Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli. When both players are on form, operating in and around Kane they offer the creation and invention to turn a tight game. Eriksen has reportedly recovered from illness and should be fit to face Manchester United on Wednesday night at Wembley. The Dane has been in fine form of late with an involvement in seven goals in his last nine games (three strikes and four assists). Alli’s form has been more up and down this season with only five Premier League goals although two of those have come in the last five games. He does however, have eight league assists. If Kane is to stretch his lead at the top of the scoring charts he’ll be looking at either Eriksen or Alli to make the difference in tight areas and feed him in front of goal.
Having played on Tuesday night and come away from Yorkshire with a deserved 3-0 win at Huddersfield, Klopp’s men will have had an extra day’s rest compared to their North London opponents who host United at Wembley on Wednesday night. That looks set to be a tough encounter with the away side buoyed by the new signing of Alexis Sanchez. Any fatigue and tiredness in the legs left over from Wembley could well spell Liverpool’s chance on Sunday. Spurs fans will be hoping for a win at Wembley, no injuries and a confidence boosting performance before Sunday’s showdown.
Looking at the form book the Liverpool fans will be confident of their team triumphing. The last time Spurs came away from Anfield with a win was in 2011 when Harry Redknapp’s team defeated Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool 2-0 with strikes from Rafael van der Vaart and Luka Modric. Since then Liverpool have won five and drawn two of the seven league and cup encounters at Anfield and have only lost twice in the last 12 games against this opponent. Last season’s fixture saw the Reds take the three points with a 2-0 win, although Spurs thrashed them 4-1 earlier this season – Kane of course scored twice, with other goals from Alli and Son-Heung min.
You can get a repeat of last season’s score line at 11/1, or even another 4-1 Spurs win at 54/1 with 10Bet.
Despite the Spurs win earlier in the season, we’re backing Liverpool to continue their good form in this fixture with a 2-1 win. We’re looking for goals from both Salah and Firmino, with an Eriksen strike from Spurs – if he’s fully fit after the mid-week encounter with United.
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