TFT Issue 279!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Liverpool vs Newcastle United – both sides to score at evens.
Today’s featured game is the English Premier League game at Anfield between Liverpool and Newcastle United.
Liverpool have been so disappointing at home this season that it’s unbelievable. They made all the right moves in the transfer market but have become inexplicably weak in front of goal. How this side didn’t beat a defenderless Blackburn Rovers side at home last match is beyond me; that’s two points wasted and that has happened far too often with Liverpool at home this season. One goal simply isn’t enough for them to win a game, more often than not, because their defence isn’t as good as their statistics portray it to be. They have a great spirit in the team and their midfield works hard to protect the defence but when it comes to the bare basics of defending, Liverpool are often caught out. Look at who they’ve drawn with at home this season – Norwich City, Swansea City, Blackburn Rovers etc. They’ve conceded in all but one home game this season and I don’t forsee that changing tonight. They may well win this game, as they should, but the issues surrouding Suarez appear to be affecting his game and subsequently Liverpool aren’t scoring many at all. It’ll be interesing to see how his absence affects them tonight – I think we’ll see them galvanised as they can’t just hit and hope with him on the end of it. I still think they’ll find a way past a Taylor-less Newcastle United defence though!
Visitors Newcastle United are on the decline after their immense start to the season. Their defence is in tatters with the news that Taylor has been ruled out with injury as they don’t have any depth in this squad at all. They’ve kept two clean sheets in their last nine Premier League games, conceding ten goals over their past five games. They still have some good players and a decent manager but they’re not the side that the statistics show them to be. Demba Ba is in terrific form and he stands a great chance of scoring against a semi-decent Liverpool defence as long as he gets the necessary support. Newcastle are battlers and they’ll want to do well here given that they sold Andy Carroll to Liverpool for big money pre-season. However, I do think Liverpool will penetrate this average defence and vice versa so I think we’ll see a couple of goals here.
Ironically, I expect this to be a terrible game between two sides that think that they’re a lot better than they actually are. However, there’s enough calamity on the park and enough firepower for both sides to score and at evens, I fancy this one quite a lot.
Verdict: Both sides to score at evens.
Team news
Australian A-League:
Adelaide United – Cassio, Levchenko, and Ramsay are absent. Susak and van Dijk are doubts. McKain returns.
Wellington Phoenix – Pantelis and Lochhead are absent. Ward, Ifill, and Downey are doubts.