Liverpool host West Ham in the quarter finals of the EFL Cup on Wednesday, both sides face hectic schedules over the coming days and the team news will be of significant interest to punters.
Liverpool
Liverpool joined this competition in the penultimate round when they were 3-1 winners at home to Championship high flyers Leicester and in the previous round they came away from Bournemouth with a 2-1 victory.
Liverpool have also progressed in the Europa League and they currently lie second in the EPL standings, 1 point behind Arsenal who they face at Anfield on Saturday. The busy schedule leaves Klopp with a squad selection headache and his side were below par in a 0-0 draw at home to Man United last Saturday, a result which ended their 100% home record in the EPL at Anfield this season.
West Ham
West Ham were 1-0 winners at Lincoln in their first action of this competition and last time they fielded a strong line up which saw Arsenal off 3-1 in a home fixture.
They have also progressed in the Europa League whilst a 3-0 home win over Wolves in the EPL last weekend puts them in eighth spot in the standings.
Recent Head to Head
The teams met in a league game at Anfield this season on the 29th September and Liverpool won it 3-1.
The Betting
At the time of writing Liverpool are 9/20 to win the game with the draw at 4/1 and West Ham can be backed at 52/10
A game of 3 goals or more is priced at 0.43/1 and it's 6/10 for both teams to score
Above markets are for regulation time.
The Verdict
Second guessing the line ups is no easy task and especially so for Liverpool with the top of the table clash with Arsenal coming up but the assistant coaches who led the press conferences on Tuesday were both in positive mood and it could be that we see 2 pretty strong line ups.
Either way I'm not throwing much more than an interest bet at the EFL Cup just before Xmas but if West Ham set up to soak up pressure and come out firing later it could be a slow burner and I will have a small interest in both teams to score in the 2nd half.
Bets: 2nd half both teams to score? (yes) at 1.75/1 with Betway
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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