Europa League
2012-08-23 - Hearts vs Liverpool
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: European Europa League
Thursday 23 August 2012 - Kick Off 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
Hearts
The Scottish Premier League is often derided by those south of the border, but Hearts get an opportunity to strike a blow for the Scots in this 'Battle of Britain' Europa League tie. There is also the small matter of redemption for Hearts as they were crushed by Tottenham Hotspur at this same stage of the competition last season.
Hearts, along with Motherwell, are expected to be the biggest challengers for the Scottish Premier League title that Celtic currently hold, especially in the absence of Rangers in the top flight. They are 2nd in the top flight, but they have won just 1 of their 3 League games so far and they are 1-1-0 at home, scoring 4 goals and conceding 2.
As I mentioned above, Hearts were beaten heavily by Spurs last season in the Europa League, losing the first leg 0-5 at home before earning a 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane. They haven't had much recent European experience, while they are just 2-0-4 in their last 6 at home.
Peter Enckleman is going to make his debut in goal in this game having just signed with the club.
Liverpool
Brendan Rodgers took over as manager of the club from the deposed Kenny Dalglish and he made it clear that this is not a short-term project to change the Liverpool fortunes around. That has not been more obvious than when they were thumped 3-0 at West Brom in their opening game of the season and it doesn't figure to get easier.
In the next month or so, Liverpool face Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United at Anfield and that means the Europa League is taking a back seat in the priority list. However, Rodgers will not want to get the fans on his back this early in his time as manager and so they still will want to progress in the competition.
Liverpool beat Gomel in the last round of this competition, securing a 4-0 win on aggregate. They didn't play in Europe last season, but they were involved in this competition a couple of years ago and finished with a 7-6-1 record. The Reds had failed to win any of their 5 previous away games in the competition before the win at Gomel, and they had scored just 1 goal and conceded just 2 in those games.
With Manchester City due at Anfield on Sunday, Rodgers has rested the likes of Martin Skrtel, Glen Johnson, Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez and Jose Enrique and that means Andy Carroll may be leading the line.
Head to Head
This will be the first competitive meeting between the teams.
Prediction
Liverpool are going to be much-changed from what will be the usual starting XI in Premier League games and so their price to win this game is far too short for me to be interested.
However, Hearts are not really a team that I would imagine could earn promotion from the Championship if they were in that Division and I think there is enough of a gulf between the teams that Liverpool will do enough to win the game.
Tottenham Hotspur smashed Hearts here last season, but they had a stronger team than the one Brendan Rodgers is going to send out. That makes the handicaps a little tough to read with most of the layers expecting Liverpool to win by a couple of goals at least.
A quick look at Hearts recent performances at home in Europe show they have lost 4 of their last 6 games, all without scoring, and that may be the best way to get involved in this game.
Liverpool will still have the likes of Jamie Carragher, Martin Kelly, Dan Agger and Pepe Reina in the back five and so I think they will have a solid enough foundation to build upon. It might be a tough game, but Hearts will need to push on and try and earn a lead to take back to Anfield next week and they may leave space to be exploited by the away side.
That could lead to Liverpool taking a slender lead back home in this one and I expect they will finish the job at Anfield.
The Pick :
Hearts 0-1 Liverpool
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back Liverpool Win to Nil @ 2.25 (Bet Fred)
