Liverpool vs Brighton Betting Pick | English FA CUP

English FA CUP

2012-02-19 - Liverpool vs Brighton

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Liverpool v Brighton
Football: FA Cup 5th Round
Sunday 19 February 2012 - Kick Off 4:30pm
This game is live on TV

Liverpool

Liverpool will be making their first trip to Wembley since 1996 next Sunday, but Kenny Dalglish will surely feel he has a good enough team that can make it back to the famous stadium in the FA Cup as well as the Carling Cup. The team face Cardiff at Wembley in the Final of the latter competition next week, but the exit of three of the top four Premier League teams from the FA Cup gives Liverpool a second opportunity to visit North West London this season.

The biggest priority for Liverpool this season was to make the Champions League and they remain in a position where they could do so as they are only 4 points behind Arsenal and Chelsea and both of those sides have had plenty of problems in recent weeks. It is the form at Anfield that has let Liverpool down this season as they are just 4-8-0 here in the League, although they have beaten Oldham and Manchester United in the last two Rounds of the FA Cup at home.

The Reds had been unbeaten in 5 games since losing in an embarrassing fashion at Bolton Wanderers recently, but they have to go back to the drawing board following a loss at Old Trafford last time out. Liverpool have won just 1 of their last 4 home games in all competitions, that coming against United in the last Round of the FA Cup, and they have won just 4 of their last 12 at home in all competitions.

Kenny Dalglish is expected to make some changes to his side in this game, while Maxi Rodriguez is back in the squad. It will be interesting to see if Luis Suarez is picked following 'handshake-gate' last week and being forced to issue an apology for his actions.

Brighton

Brighton will hope they can replicate the performance of their 1983 counterparts that beat Liverpool on the way to the FA Cup Final against Manchester United that saw them only beaten through a replay. Gus Poyet's men are having a solid season in the Championship following their promotion last season and they have already beaten Newcastle United in the FA Cup this year.

The Seagulls are actually a dark horse for a potential Play Off berth in the Championship, currently sitting just 2 points behind Birmingham City in the final Play Off position and they are only 8 points from the automatic promotion spots. They have a 6-3-7 away record in the League, although they needed a penalty shoot-out to beat non-League Wrexham away from home in the 3rd Round of the Cup.

2012 seems to have brought a change in fortune for Brighton as they are unbeaten in all 10 games played in this calender year after ending 2011 with 4 consecutive defeats. The team have won 2 of their last 3 games away from home and they are unbeaten in 4 games following 3 consecutive defeats on their travels.

Will Buckley will return to the side after missing them midweek game against Millwall. Gai Assulin and Abdul Razak have both been signed on-loan from Manchester City and will be in the squad for this one.

Head to Head

Liverpool and Brighton met in the Carling Cup this season at the Amex Stadium, a game that Liverpool won 1-2 after going through some difficulties.

They last met at Anfield in the 1990/91 season in an FA Cup tie, with Brighton coming away with a 2-2 draw before losing 2-3 at home in the replay.

Prediction

It is understandable that Liverpool are the big favourites to win this match, but I am not a fan of backing a team that has consistently underperformed at home all season, especially not at the odds on offer.

The handicaps are also a little hard to read as Brighton do have the ability to cause problems, while they have shown that they can be a stubborn team to break down with the way Gus Poyet sets them up.

However, much like Arsenal before the game with Blackburn Rovers recently, I think Liverpool are just about to give someone a real hiding at Anfield as they continue to create a number of chances here and I think they will create the chances again in this match, despite knowing Brighton are a decent defensive side.

With that in mind, the market that has appealed to me most in this game is backing Liverpool to score in both halves at odds against. I think they will want to take away all memories of what happened before their last game against Manchester United and will have had a week to really get fired up for this game.

The team have failed to score in 2 of their last 5 games at Anfield, but did manage goals in each half against Manchester City and Manchester United in recent games here and it looks the best way to get on this game.