Saturday Premier Preview and Odds – Liverpool vs. West Ham United
February 24, 2018 15:00pm
Anfield Stadium
Following their stunning 5-0 Champions League win in Porto, Liverpool headed off for a four-day training camp in Spain and should arrive at this fixture fresher than they have been for a while – perhaps benefitting from their early FA Cup exit. Next up for the Reds is a home clash against a West Ham side who also sat out last weekend’s domestic cup schedule.
Jurgen Klopp’s men will be full of confidence following their European exploits and will take to the field unbeaten in their last four matches during which time they also kept three clean sheets. Time will tell if the January recruitment of Virgil van Dijk has shored up their defence for the long-term.
With just one loss in their last 18 league matches and just one defeat at home in the last year, everything points to a home win here. Especially when you consider that their opponents have only won one league game at Anfield since the early 1960s.
West Ham United are currently sat in 12th place in the table but their position is a precarious one. Defeat here could plunge them back towards the drop zone, such is the congestion in the bottom half of the table. David Moyes’ men have not been in bad form having lost just one of their last eight but it is hard to see how they will cope with a Liverpool team that is in rampant form.
The homes side are almost at full strength with Joe Gomez the only notable absentee. Meanwhile, West Ham will be without the suspended Arthur Masuaka and the injured group of Pedro Obiang, Edimilson Fernandes, Manuel Lanzini and Andy Carroll.
Prediction
Anfield has seen plenty of goals in recent weeks with three of the last four fixtures producing four goals or more. After their 10-day break, the team should be feeling recuperated and full of energy and that could be bad news for the visitors.
Moyes will set out to frustrate his opponents but increasingly, Klopp’s men are becoming used to playing against two banks of four and should have enough to find a way through at some point in the game. If they get a goal in the first quarter of the game, the floodgates might open as the Hammers are forced to chase.
On that basis the Over 3.5 Goals bet looks good at a price of 11/10 with Betfair.