11/1 Liverpool v Spurs and El Clasico acca. Artur Petrosyan’s prediction

Liverpool – Tottenham

I really like the Spurs’ core in the England XI. It is something that has breathed fresh air into Roy Hodgson’s team and does everything to keep surprising the 68-year-old manager himself. I doubt that any of the 20+ teams he’s managed have played such bright football and unlike in previous games, the fans were able to enjoy an attractive, attacking style. The Dier-Alli-Kane trio is the best England have had for many, many years, while Danny Rose did more than enough to keep his place in the starting XI too.

The thing is all of them are still perhaps too young (mentally, more than physically) to be consistent for long periods. And it will be hard for at least three of them (Kane aside) to keep calm and do a professional job under heavy pressure. I’m sure that playing for England in two tough games was emotional and we could now see the effects of this back playing for Spurs just a few days later

Add Spurs’ defensive woes to this and a clear picture of what it’ll be like against an attacking Liverpool team becomes clear. Liverpool need to react to what happened at Southampton, but given that which is mentioned above this looks the perfect chance to. The Reds will push and create a lot of chances. Coutinho and Lallana, who’s been doing his best to prove Jurgen Klopp he’s worthy of a starting place over the past few months, will cause Alderweireld and Wimmer’s plenty of problems, and if Firmino gets his chance, he will only add to them.

I smell goals for the home side here. “Liverpool to score over 1.5 goals” at 2.45 at William Hill looks delicious.

“Harry Kane to score anytime” at 2.25 is good too. Spurs will definitely have their own chances, they’re good on the counter and with Liverpool pushing forward, there should be space in behind. The pacy visitors could benefit from this, and with Kane shooting when he wants and from where he wants, he’ll have a good chance to better his already impressive goal tally .

Barcelona – Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo hadn’t scored for Portugal since June 13. He finally did, ending a drought which lasted for more than 409 minutes. He’s on a high and I doubt there’s anything he wants more now than to score at Camp Nou. Well, maybe taking a flight to Morocco could be more tempting.

Barca have conceded in 8 goals in their last 11 games, and have conceded in 18 of the last 19 Clasicos. In other words defensively they’re far from ideal, so it looks as though Madrid are more likely to score than not.

Barca have scored 2 or more goals in 20 of their last 21 games, and even though they don’t look great at the back, there’s no reason for them to slow down despite already having one hand on the title. Yes, the international break could influence the freshness of the great MSN, but they should still find their way to the Madrid goal.

The Merengues have conceded at least one goal in 8 of their last 9 away games. Surely they will when facing Barcelona here?

“Barcelona to win and Cristiano Ronaldo to score” at 5.00 looks as tempting as that flight mentioned above. “Total Goals – Over 3” at 1.80 with William Hill seems decent too.