Liverpool haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory in away games during the ongoing 2017-18 season and it is with a little trepidation they will head for London Stadium to play coch Steven Bilic’s West Ham United on Saturday.The Reds were without their star forward Phillipe Coutinho due to an injury during the win over Huddersfield Town, but the mercurial Brazilian is expected to feature in the weekend clash against the Hammers. The Reds looked very much their attacking selfs only in the 2nd half with Mohammed Salah, Firmino, Daniel Sturridge and Oxlade-Chamberlain of the Huddersfield clash and Jurgen Klopp would very much want that to continue at the London stadium against the Hammers. The defense that has looked completely disjointed on their travels (cruelly exposed in a 1-4 defeat to Tottenham recently), looks to restore some stability after the return of the injured Dejan Lovren.
Considering their position in the middle of the bottom half of the table, West Ham have through one of their better phases of the season, losing just one of their last four games and winning one. This is almost identical to their upcoming weekend rivals, who have actually managed to register just two wins from their seven games since September.The Hammers’ defense have a propensity to concede as evident from their last weekend’s clash against Crystal Palace when they threw away an early 2-goal lead only to settle for a 2-2 draw.While the Hammers record of letting in goals in slightly worse than that of Liverpool, they have found goals hard to come by (just 10 from the same number of outings).The £25million signing from Stoke City, Marko Arnautovic is yet to find his feet and has remained scoreless from the six games he has featured in for his new club.Same goes for their key man upfront, Andy Carroll, who has featured in only half of his club’s 10 Premier league outings so far, thanks to various injuries and suspensions. Like Arnautovic, the lanky English striker is yet to find the back of the net this season adding to the Hammers’ goal-getting woes. The Liverpool clash is an opportunity for both these strikers to make amends.
Liverpool have an easy UEFA Champions League outing at Anfield against minions Maribor and should be on their way to the Round of 16. The Reds head the Group E cluster that has teams like Spartak Moscow and Sevilla.
As for the Premier League, Liverpool could slip a place from their present 6th spot in event of Newcastle win over Brighton on Monday night. The Magpies are on 14 points, just 2 behind Liverpool.
West Ham have a surprisingly good record against Liverpool having won three and lost just two of their last 7 encounters against the Reds in all forms of competition. But bookmakers are not looking at history while wagering for a Liverpool win at the London stadium on Saturday.
Recommended Football Tip:
Liverpool to WIN, Best Odds 1.75 @ BetfairSportsbook
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