Liverpool – Stoke

Liverpool will look to secure a 1-0 first leg advantage when they take on Stoke City at Anfield in this second leg of the Capital One Cup semifinals.

Even though ‘Pool is still involved in 4 competitions, the Capital One Cup is by far the most winnable one, representing an important objective for Klopp’s men. The hosts seem to have hit some good form recently, especially on the offensive end. A 3-3 draw against Arsenal was followed by a 0-1 defeat against Man United and by two wins against Exeter (3-0) and Norwich (5-4). The weekend victory over Norwich was indeed a massive one, with Liverpool coming back from a 3-1 deficit and netting the winner in injury time.

Stoke is having a solid season this year, currently being on the 9th place in the Premier League, but the visitors have lost 3 out of the last 6 matches in all competitions, including a heavy 3-0 defeat against Leicester over the weekend. The scoreline was a bit harsh, but Stoke did not play well and will surely be a bit down on morale coming into this reverse leg at Anfield – especially since they have a mountain to climb after losing the first leg at home, 0-1.

Bet now on Liverpool – Stoke with the highest Capital One Cup odds at 1xbet.com!

Team news & lineups:

Skrtel, Sturridge, Coutinho, Lovren and probably Clyne are out for Liverpool, who gets back Flanagan from injury. Stoke will miss Cameron and, most importantly, the backbone of the team, Ryan Shawcross – who injured himself against Leicester. Both sides will use strong lineups in an attempt to reach the final.

Liverpool: Mignolet – Flanagan, Toure, Sakho, Moreno – Can, Leiva, Henderson – Lallana, Benteke, Firmino

Stoke City: Butland – Johnson, Wollscheid, Wilson, Pieters – Whelan – Affelay, Shaqiri, Arnautovic, Walters – Bojan

Liverpool won both meetings against Stoke City this season and both were played at Britannia Stadium, where Stoke is so strong, so clearly ‘Pool does something right against this lot. They also won 5 of the last 6 overall. Today’s hosts seem to own a matchup advantage, which is always an important factor to take into account.

My tip is Liverpool to win. While they are not exactly the most trustworthy club, they are in pretty good shape right now and have amazing morale after that crazy win over Norwich. Indeed, Liverpool does not need a win to advance, but even if they would be satisfied with a draw, they will have important chances late on in the match when Stoke will have to go for it – and few teams are better at exploiting open spaces than Liverpool is.

A very important argument for my bet is represented by the odds. Bookies went too high with the price on Liverpool as far as I`m concerned and it’s no wonder that it’s dropping. The current odds on ‘Pool (around 1.75) are better than they should be. Teams like Southampton or Tottenham had odds of around 1.65 at home against Stoke this season. For clubs like Everton or Swansea, the number was around 1.85. Arsenal was priced 1.30.

Looking into this context, I feel the 1.75 price for a Liverpool win is a bit too good to pass up. Prediction: Liverpool – Stoke City 2-1.

Pick: Liverpool
Odds: 1.76 @ 1xBet
Stake: 7
Possible profit: 5.32
Event date: 26 January