English Premier
2012-03-13 - Liverpool vs Everton
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Tuesday 13 March 2012 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
Liverpool
You wouldn't believe it, but there are some Liverpool fans out there that believe they need a change in manager to revive the fortunes of this club. That is quite astonishing considering how desperate they ALL were to bring in Kenny Dalglish in the first place and you would think they would give him more than 14 months to get things right, as well as giving him some scope after winning the Carling Cup last month.
The problem for the fans is the lack of improvement in the League form, despite spending vast sums of money on the likes of Luis Suarez, Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam since Dalglish took over. Liverpool are 7th in the Premier League, but they are almost 30 points behind the leaders, while they have a chance to close to within 10 points of the final Champions League place with a win here. The Reds are 4-8-1 at Anfield this season, scoring 15 goals and conceding 10.
The team have lost 3 consecutive Premier League games, the latest being the 1-0 loss to Sunderland on Saturday. They have maintained progress in the Cup competitions in that time, winning the Carling Cup as I mentioned as well as reaching the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup. Liverpool have won just 2 of their last 10 games at Anfield in the Premier League, and have failed to win any of their last 3.
Steven Gerrard is expected back in the starting line up, but Glen Johnson has been ruled out. Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll are hoping to be restored to the starting line up.
Everton
David Moyes will be celebrating ten years in charge of Everton tomorrow and I have to say it has been a fantastic effort to keep them as competitive as he has. He has already achieved a lot of success in his time at Goodison Park, but Moyes will be looking to rectify two things this season- one of those is to win some silverware as they are in the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup, the other is to record a win at Anfield.
Everton are 9th in the Premier League table, but they could take themselves above Liverpool with a win here tonight, while any positive result will see them move up the table. The bring a tough 4-4-5 away record to Anfield, having scored 15 goals in those games and conceded 13.
The Toffees are unbeaten in 9 games in all competitions as they have picked up plenty of positive results in the League as well as moving through to the last 8 in the FA Cup. They have won 5 of their last 7 games, including against the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, albeit all those wins coming at home. Everton have actually won just 1 of their last 6 away games in the Premier League, drawing the last 3.
Nikica Jelavic may only earn a place on the bench despite scoring at the weekend, while Steven Pienaar is back in the squad.
Head to Head
Liverpool won a bad-tempered match at Goodison Park 0-2 earlier this season when Everton were controversially reduced to ten men early in the game.
The corresponding fixture ended 2-2 last season, meaning 3 of the last 4 games at Anfield have finished in draws.
Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 12 home games against Everton, although they have only won 5 of them.
Prediction
Liverpool desperately need a striker in the Summer market as they do create a lot of chances but just don't have the player that is capable of scoring 20-25 goals a season. If they had someone like that, they could have turned many of their home draws into wins, while they would have likely have wiped out Arsenal in a game they ended up losing.
Everton will come here and look to be solid and make life difficult for the home side and hope to get the fans tense and quiet. They haven't won here for over a decade, but they come in with strong form, although most of their strong results have come at Goodison Park.
Most Merseyside Derbies have been close tight affairs in recent seasons, with 9 of the last 10 finishing with 2 or less goals scored. This one is unlikely to be much different, but I also think Liverpool are going to find a way to win the game in a low-scoring affair.
I wouldn't want to back Liverpool at odds-on at the moment, especially considering they have won less than 33% of their home games in the League this season, but backing them to do so as well as 2 or fewer goals scored looks interesting at 3.50 being offered by Paddy Power.
I'll have a small interest on that.
The Pick :
Liverpool 1-0 Everton
