Liverpool vs Burnley
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Today’s free tip is in the English Premier League encounter at Anfield between Liverpool and Burnley.
This is a must-win game for Liverpool now. To be fair, all of their games for the rest of the season are because they’re challenging for the title. Whether they’ll triumph or not is anyone’s guess, really. I don’t think that they’re doing enough right now but that could change in the near future. Furthermore, title rivals Manchester City has now lost some really important players to injury; players that they cannot replace. Throw the respective UEFA Champions League campaign of both clubs into the mix and it becomes challenging to call. It all comes down to which team holds its nerve the better in the end, though, and at this moment in time, that team is Manchester City, which is why Liverpool need to buck up their ideas.
For so long this season Liverpool played the best and most effective football in the division, barely breaking stride. However, now they’re at the business end of the season, Klopp’s lack of rotation – especially in attack – looks to be hurting them. Other than against Watford, I genuinely think that Liverpool has been poor over the past four or five weeks. I’m not necessarily talking about their results, either – it’s about what they’re showing on the pitch. A team can go on a bad run through bad luck, deserving to win games but not getting the right breaks at the right time. That’s not the case with Liverpool, though – they’ve not deserved more than what they’ve got of late, in my view.
Don’t get me wrong here – Liverpool is still creating chances. With the quality they have in attack, that should not come as a surprise. Their star attackers aren’t taking them, though. Salah and Firmino in particular have struggled in that respect; only Mane appears to be in the right place mentally at this moment in time. The fatigue in the squad is making them create less chances than usual and I can only assume that’s what is making their finishing poor too. They obviously deserve to be favourites against Burnley, and they should really win the game, but I am sure you can see why I am struggling to believe that we’ll see Liverpool emulate their demolition job of Watford today. It’s also worth noting that Liverpool travel to Germany to face Bayern Munich next week so I really don’t think it’d be prudent for them to overexert themselves today.
Cards on the table – Liverpool should absolutely beat Burnley at home. They’ve got the quality. They’ve got the motivation. They’ve got the home advantage. It all makes sense. You’re a braver person than I am if you back it, though. Liverpool hasn’t created anywhere near as many chances as usual of late, even against defensively poor teams like Everton, and they’re not likely to get many against Burnley unless they score very early on. I think this will be a really frustrating game for The Reds, one that will seriously test their mettle as title contenders. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle it.
What doesn’t help Liverpool is how well Burnley has done over the past month or two. Earlier in the campaign, they looked absolutely atrocious. The Lancashire club were showing more signs of being in the relegation zone than competing for a European place. Dyche’s change in formation didn’t prove at all successful and thus they reverted back to their more familiar style in 2019, which is why they’ve been a lot more effective. Burnley is not what you’d call an ‘entertaining’ team, unlike their hosts, but it’s a team that is solid, organised, disciplined, and bloody hard to overcome. It’s not the kind of team you want to face if you’re fatigued, that’s for sure!
Burnley is seriously good at two things. The first is defending; the second is counter-attacking. I couldn’t honestly say that they have much in the way of stars but because the team works so hard as a unit, they often look better than they are. If you get around the tactics of Dyche then Burnley become a lot weaker because their individuals are generally below-par for the Premier League. Can Liverpool do that, though? Newcastle United and Crystal Palace managed it recently but they both look fresher than Liverpool right now, which is understandable, given that they’ve not played as many games. I’m not sure Liverpool has it in them to punish Burnley right now like they would if this game were being played in September, although time will tell, of course.
I think Burnley has what it takes to make Liverpool sweat today. Whether they’ll get anything from the game or not, I honestly couldn’t say right now. All I’ll say on that front is that if Liverpool has any intention of winning the title then The Clarets will not be given the opportunity to get something. Still, even if Liverpool do win the game, it would be senseless of them to go in to pulverise the visitors with such a big game looming. Therefore, whichever way this game ends up going, I think it’s logical to expect a low-scoring encounter. The last few meetings between these two teams at Anfield have ended 1-1, 2-1, and 2-0 so as you can see, Liverpool seldom make light work of this fixture, just like everybody else in the division. This is a tough game for tired legs, basically, so my call is under 3 goals, and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that there isn’t an early goal as that would cause this tip huge problems for obvious reasons!
Verdict: Under 3 goals at 6/5.
Sunday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Argentinian Superliga:
Estudiantes de la Plata vs Gimnasia de la Plata
Atletico Huracan vs San Martin Tucuman
Independiente vs Aldosivi
Atletico Tucuman vs River Plate
Austrian Bundesliga:
Salzburg vs Sturm Graz
LASK Linz vs Wacker Innsbruck
Admira Wacker vs St. Polten
SV Mattersburg vs Rapid Vienna
Austria Vienna vs SCR Altach
Hartberg vs Wolfsberger AC
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
RSC Anderlecht vs Kortrijk
AA Gent vs KV Oostende
Racing Genk vs Lokeren
Royal Excel Mouscron vs Sint-Truiden
AS Eupen vs Club Brugge
Cercle Brugge vs Standard de Liege
Antwerp vs Sporting Charleroi
Waasland-Beveren vs Zulte-Waregem
Bulgarian A PFG:
Septemvri Sofia vs Slavia Sofia
Cherno More Varna vs Botev Plovdiv
Levski Sofia vs Ludogorets Razgrad
Croatian Prva Liga:
NK Osijek vs Lokomotiva Zagreb
Dinamo Zagreb vs Rijeka
Czech Republic HET Liga:
Slavia Prague vs Banik Ostrava
Danish Superligaen:
Randers vs AC Horsens
SonderjyskE vs Esbjerg
FC Nordsjaelland vs FC Copenhagen
Brondby vs Aalborg BK
English Premier League:
Liverpool vs Burnley
Chelsea vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arsenal vs Manchester United
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Tammeka vs Maardu
Flora Tallinn vs Tulevik
Faroese Meistaradeildin:
Vikingur Gotu vs IF Fuglafjordur
KI Klaksvik vs HB Torshavn
NSI Runavik vs EB/Streymur
B36 Torshavn vs Skala
TB/FCS/Royn vs AB Argir
French Ligue 1:
Montpellier HSC vs Angers SCO
AS Saint-Etienne vs Lille OSC
Toulouse vs En Avant Guingamp
Stade Rennais vs Stade Malherbe de Caen
Olympique de Marseille vs OGC Nice
German Bundesliga:
TSG Hoffenheim vs Nurnberg
Hannover 96 vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen
German Bundesliga 2:
St. Pauli vs Hamburger SV
Greuther Furth vs Dynamo Dresden
Magdeburg vs SV Sandhausen (
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Maccabi Petah Tikva vs MS Ashdod
Bnei Sakhnin vs Hapoel Be’er Sheva
Italian Serie A:
Bologna vs Cagliari
Sampdoria vs Atalanta Bergamo
Internazionale vs SPAL
Frosinone vs Torino
Sassuolo vs SSC Napoli
ACF Fiorentina vs SS Lazio
Italian Serie B:
Cremonese vs Benevento
Ascoli vs Livorno
Salernitana vs Crotone
Lithuanian A Lyga:
Atlantas Klaipeda vs Suduva Marijampole
Dutch Eredivisie:
PEC Zwolle vs AZ Alkmaar
Vitesse Arnhem vs Feyenoord Rotterdam
FC Emmen vs Heracles Almelo
AFC Ajax Amsterdam vs Fortuna Sittard
Portuguese Liga 1:
Santa Clara vs Desportivo Aves
Portimonense vs CD Nacional de Madeira
Vitoria Setubal vs Tondela
Feirense vs FC Porto
Portuguese Liga 2:
Estoril vs Vitoria Guimaraes II
Farense vs Varzim
Academico Viseu vs Academica de Coimbra
UD Oliveirense vs Sporting Covilha
Arouca vs Cova Piedade
Penafiel vs Mafra
Russian Premier League:
Zenit St. Petersburg vs FK Ufa
FK Rostov vs Arsenal Tula
Dinamo Moscow vs Spartak Moscow
Anzhi Makhachkala vs Lokomotiv Moscow
Spanish Primera Liga:
Celta de Vigo vs Real Betis Balompie
Girona vs Valencia CF
Levante CF vs Villarreal CF
Sevilla CF vs Real Sociedad
Real Valladolid vs Real Madrid
Swiss Super League:
Lugano vs FC Basel
Luzern vs St. Gallen
Thun vs FC Zurich
Swiss Challenge League:
Vaduz vs Chiasso
Servette vs FC Schaffhausen
Turkish Super Lig:
Alanyaspor vs BB Erzurumspor
Goztepe vs Kasimpasa
Rizespor vs Kayserispor
Besiktas JK vs Konyaspor
Enjoy your free betting tips!