Alan Pardew and his Crystal Palace side will welcome Liverpool to Selhurst Park this Saturday in the hope of creating a bit of a shock. They’re going to need all the help they can get. Liverpool are in good form, look dangerous in every game and have a style that they are comfortable with and the opposition is thoroughly uncomfortable with.
Liverpool have lost just once this season and look like they could be right up there challenging for the title at the end of the season. They’re sitting at the top end of the Premier League table right now and will want to make that last as long as possible. They do have the complication of a League Cup match against Tottenham earlier in the week while Crystal Palace get to rest but with some sensible squad rotation, they should be able to cope with both matches.
Although Palace have a reasonable defensive record at home (better than Liverpools away defensive record) they are going to need to be at their best as Liverpool don’t play in a conventional manner much of the time. Despite having spent a lot of money on strikers over the last few seasons (one of whom is now a Crystal Palace player), Liverpool often play with what some would call a “false 9”. A creative and attacking midfield moves around to create openings for each other and Sadio Mané, Philippe Coutinho or Roberto Firminho have seen spaces open up enough times this season to see all 3 feature in the leagues top 20 goalscorers. James Milner is also on that list because of his penalty taking and it’s not often you see a left back feature on that list.
There are no Crystal Palace players in the leagues Top 20 goalscorers and that probably points to their major problem. With just 5 goals scored at home this season and a defence that can be a little leaky, they’ve often had to be content with draws. 4 of those goals came in one game against Stoke so even that stat is a little skewed.
Liverpool have scored 20 goals this season and have scored two goals or more on 6 separate occasions.
I think you can see from all of this that I’m strongly leaning towards a Liverpool win. At 1.73 with William Hill I believe there is even a little value there and that just compounds things for me. It’s an easy choice to back the away side in a Match Odds selection but I also think things could be pushed a little further with an Asian Handicap bet so I’m splitting my stake, half on the straight win and half on Liverpool -1 which can be found at 2.28 with BetVictor.
I think there’s a very good chance of winning both of those and will be watching this match with interest.
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