Liverpool vs. Chelsea Betting Tips: Two bets for Saturday's lunchtime fixture
Liverpool host Chelsea in the early kick-off on Saturday. These two teams have been at the forefront in terms of battling for trophies in recent seasons. The first half of this campaign hasn’t gone to plan for either side and this match could have a huge bearing on the rest of the season.
Scott Thornton has previewed the match and provided his best bets...
Jurgen Klopp’s side progressed in the FA Cup by edging past Wolves in a replay this week.
They went into that game on the back of a humbling 3-0 defeat against Brighton so Liverpool will have been glad to keep a clean sheet.
There is still plenty for Liverpool to fight for this season. They are in the knockout stages of the Champions League and will be battling to finish in the top four of the Premier League. They have brought in reinforcements in the form of Cody Gakpo and should be optimistic that the second half of the season will be much better than the first.
Chelsea are enduring an even tougher time than Liverpool. Graham Potter’s honeymoon period at Stamford Bridge is well and truly over.
A string of poor results have seen them drop to 10th in the table. The Blues are currently closer to 20th than top of the table.
Liverpool vs Chelsea Tips
Despite Liverpool’s woes so far this season, Anfield remains a daunting place to go. Leeds are the only team to beat the Reds there this season. Klopp’s side have beaten Man City and handed Newcastle their only defeat of the season in front of their home support.
Chelsea’s away form has been poor. They have won just three of their 10 matches on the road and their recent away form isn’t promising.
Potter won his first two Premier League away games as Chelsea boss but they have since gone on a five match run without an away victory. They were beaten by Fulham in their last away match and Joao Felix picked up a red card that rules him out of this clash.
Chelsea’s injury list is extensive and they are down to barebones for this one. Liverpool will view this as the perfect time to be playing Chelsea and I’m backing the home side to pick up all three points here.
Liverpool’s league home matches this season are averaging 27.89 shots. There has also been 24 or more shots in the last four meetings between the sides; with an average of 27 shots per game over that period. When these teams met at Anfield last season, there were 30 shots in the match.
Chelsea looked threatening going forward against Fulham. They made a fast start and ended up having 20 attempts despite the red card. While Liverpool should be able to restrict Potter’s men to fewer chances, I still expect them to contribute to the shot count.
For our longer odds bet we are still backing Liverpool to win the match but increasing the amount of shots in the game.
It’s hard to look past Liverpool here. Fans are unhappy with the club's transfer policy in recent years but the players still have their full backing. Klopp is a hugely successful manager who is capable of guiding the club for this difficult period.
On the other hand, some Chelsea fans are starting to doubt Potter’s credentials at this level. He is managing a squad plagued by injury and Saturday should be a struggle for them.
There have been 28 shots or more in four of Liverpool’s last five Premier League home games. The average shots per match over this period is 29.4. There were also 28 shots when Chelsea travelled to Fulham in their last away match.
