Following a busy week of European and Premier League football, fans and managers now turn their attention to the EFL Cup. Despite being at the bottom of most managers list of objectives, it is a cup competition that gives you a great chance of winning silverware; something that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp would dearly love to do.
On Tuesday night he will take his Liverpool side to Leicester City knowing that he really needs a win to turn around a run of three games without a victory. He will come up against a Leicester City side who have had a tough start to the Premier League season, winning just one of their opening five matches.
EFL Cup – King Power Stadium, Leicester, England – Tuesday, September 19th, 2017
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Draw Best Odd of: 5/2 at Paddy |
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Leicester City
LiverpoolLeicester City Form
Leicester City dropped points again last weekend during a 1-1 draw away at Huddersfield Town. Even though Huddersfield have performed well above and beyond what was expected of them this season, this would still have been a game that Craig Shakespeare would have identified as very winnable. Leicester City have had a tough opening set of games, having already played Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United and so three points were vital in this one. The pressure is now starting to mount on Shakespeare and if he sees his side lose both of the next two games against Liverpool, fans could well start asking to see a change in leadership at the club.
Liverpool Form
The pressure is also starting to be put on Jurgen Klopp by some more extreme sections of the Liverpool support following another disappointing 1-1 draw with Burnley last time out. Liverpool had 35 shots in the game, but could only find the net once through a Mo Salah goal. Again Liverpool were sloppy in defence and that cost them the points; just like it did against Sevilla in the Champions League last week. Klopp knows that he really needs to win both the EFL Cup game and the Premier League game against Leicester City and so I’m expecting him to name a fairly strong team for the game.
Talking Points
- These two sides meet twice in the space of five days in both the EFL Cup and Premier League.
- Philipe Coutinho made his first start of the season against Burnley last time out and could well keep his place against Leicester City in this game.
- There have been 21 goals scored in the last five matches Liverpool have played in; showing both the strength in Liverpool’s attack and the weakness in their defence.
Prediction
Both sides will be going all out to win this one as they look to kick-start their season’s following a tough run of form. I think both managers will select fairly strong teams for this game and we could be in for a good matchup. I’m backing Liverpool to narrowly win this one and I think it could be a 2-1 result in favour of the Reds.
Betting Tips (Ladbrokes)
Liverpool start this game as slight favourites at 11/8 to pick up a win, whilst a victory for Leicester City is available at 21/10 and the draw is 13/5. The odds show how tight the bookies think this game will be and that means that the 11/8 on offer for a Liverpool win looks tempting to me. Liverpool have struggled at the back this season and therefore I’m going to go for Liverpool to win and BTTS (YES) at 3/1; those odds look very good to me.
Liverpool to win and BTTS (YES) – 3/1 (Ladbrokes)