Liverpool v Rabotnicki
Football : Europa League, 3rd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg
Thursday 5 August 2010 - Kickoff 7:45pm

Liverpool lead 2-0 from 1st Leg

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Liverpool

Liverpool will feel they have done the hard work in achieving a strong result in Macedonia and will now look to this game to get the final pieces of fitness back into the squad before the big Premier League kick off. This is the last game Liverpool will play before they host Arsenal on the first Super Sunday of the season on August 15th.

Roy Hodgson has shown some concern as to how his side are looking with the limited time left before the big kick off, and with a tough start to the campaign, they can ill afford to get off to a bad start. Hodgson will be keen to see his side put in a good performance here at Anfield and continue their sequence of winning their last 4 Europa League games at Anfield.

It may be possible that Liverpool will play some of their bigger players in this leg simply as it is the last match the team will play before meeting Arsenal. The likes of Glen Johnson, Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole were given their first run outs of the new season last weekend in their friendly loss and we could see those players starting here.

Possible Liverpool line up :
Cavalieri, Johnson, Carragher. Skrtal, Agger, Cole, Lucas, Gerrard, Jovanovic, Aquilani, N'gog

Rabotnicki

Rabotnicki looked out of their depth last weekend as they took on a vastly weakened Liverpool side and the Macedonians barely tested the Reds backline.

It also seems clear that they have almost resigned themselves to an exit and it will be interesting to see how the side copes having to play 3 days after winning their first League game of ths season away at local rivals Skopje.

The side will also have to overcome recent history that has seen them fail to win at OB Odense (Denmark) and Crusaders (N. Ireland) in this competition.

This will be the toughest test that Rabotnicki have had in recent history but will have experienced a trip to the North West of England previously when they met Bolton Wanderers in 2007/08. They lost that game 1-0.

Rabotnicki do have a young squad and it will be interesting to see what type of team they put out, especially considering the short turnover since their domestic game on Monday.

Prediction

Team news is clearly going to be an important issue to when it comes to placing a bet on this match. Liverpool are expected to play some of the bigger guns in this leg so they can get some match time in before the game with Arsenal in 10 days time.

It will also be interesting to see what kind of tactic that Rabotnicki will adopt- will they attempt mission very difficult, rather than impossible, and try to take the game to Liverpool and overturn the deficit or will they sit back and keep the score respectable. The short week will not have helped them and they may be looking towards the League game they have on Saturday.

I will take a keen look at the team Liverpool put out, but if they play the English contingent, I can only see an easy win for the home side.

Keep an eye on team news before making this pick, but I am going with Liverpool -2.5 on the Asian Handicap

The Pick :

Liverpool 4-0 Rabotnicki

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Liverpool -2.5 Asian Handicap