Ajax vs. Liverpool Betting Tips: Back Van Dijk to score a header in his homeland

Liverpool travel to the Johan Cruyff Arena Wednesday evening to face Ajax, live on BT sport. 

Ajax come into this fixture knowing that they are up against the odds to qualify from this tricky group A. Losses against Liverpool and back-to-back defeats against group leaders Napoli leaves them In third place ahead of this match, six points behind their forthcoming opponents. This makes it a must win game for the hosts if they have any chance of progressing in this competition. Alfred Schreuder will be hopeful his side can continue their great goalscoring form – away from Europe they’ve won three Eredivisie games on the bounce, scoring 15 goals in this time. 

Jurgen Klopp will know his side just need a point to advance to the next round of Champions League following three successive wins, but a victory here will give them every chance of overthrowing Napoli on top spot in the final fixture of the group games next week. Liverpool seemed to have turned a corner last week - after beating reigning Premier League champions Manchester City 1-0 they followed this with another 1-0 win over West Ham, significant back-to-back clean sheets for the Redmen. However, a 1-0 loss away to 20th placed Nottingham Forrest on the weekend proved Klopp's side aren’t the force of last season just yet. 

Ajax’s position in the group means we should see them leave nothing behind here and attack an LFC side who have been shaky at the back all season. The must win nature of the fixture in front of home fans should see the Dutch side accumulate at least 8 shots needed for this part of the bet. Liverpool have conceded 8 or more shots in 6 of their 7 away games this term, with only Rangers failing to hit this mark in a 7-1 defeat (7). 

Mohamed Salah broke the record for the fastest Champions League hat-trick in his last outing in this competition - The Liverpool record breaker scored 3 goals off the bench vs Rangers In just 6 minutes. The attack minded approach from Ajax should leave the Egyptian with more space than usual, which is a danger for any defence. Salah is averaging 3.3 shots per game across all competitions this campaign, so him to hit 3 or more should be achievable in our odds against bet builder. 

For our longshot I am more than happy to have half a point on Virgil Van Dijk to score a header, available with Bet365. 

In the reverse fixture just a few weeks ago, it was exploited as a clear area of weakness for Ajax and it is something I think the reds can capitalise on once again. Liverpool won 2-1 on that day with now Injured Joel Matip scoring a header from a corner, but even more interestingly, Liverpools  two Centre backs combined for a total of 7 shots! Van Dijk counted for 4 of them that day, and after going close again on the weekend on numerous occasions, I’m happy to have a stab on the Dutch Giant to score a header at 12/1.