This match sees two sides who have been given different fates by the pundits go head-to-head. Home side Swansea are just a point outside the relegation places with many tipping them to go down whilst Liverpool have been in excellent form and are now second favourites for the title behind Manchester City.
Despite a decent performance against Manchester City last weekend, it seems that the Swans’ American owners have made manager Francesco Guidolin’s position almost untenable. Rumours have circulated that Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins met with former head coach of the U.S. national team Bob Bradley in Bristol to discuss what is likely to be the soon to be vacant managerial role at the Liberty Stadium.
The fact that the board have failed to come out and back their under-fire manager speaks volumes and it is surely only a matter of time before Guidolin is forced to walk the plank – ridiculous when you consider he was only made permanent manager a matter of months ago.
I highly doubt that the players are motivated to play for their manager right now (why players cannot motivate themselves is beyond me) and cannot see the Swans having much success against this in-form Liverpool team.
Jurgen Klopp has the exact opposite feeling right now and is currently basking in praise from all corners. His side play attractive and intense football which results in exciting games with goals at both ends. They have scored the second most goals of any team in the league with 16 and, luckily for them, do not rely on one goalscorer with Adam Lallana, Philippe Coutinho, James Milner and Sadio Mane all among the Premier League top scorers with four goals each this campaign.
Of course the former Borussia Dortmund manager will be concerned about the defence but, if he gets that right, you can see Liverpool challenging for the title – hence why the bookies make them second favourites at 6/1. Having said that, Klopp has been very careful to keep everybody’s feet on the ground and has come out with the cliché of taking it game by game whilst admitting that he does not understand betting odds.
There should be plenty of goals in this match (especially for Liverpool) given Swansea’s lack of confidence and the Reds abundance of it. Therefore it is reasonable to look on the goals market and I would advise adding ‘Over 3.5 Goals’ to a Liverpool win. With the Reds’ defence being rather questionable you can actually see Swansea scoring which makes the possibility of a high-scoring game even greater.
The previously mentioned Adam Lallana has had a new lease of life under Klopp and is often seen on the end of one of the German’s famous celebratory hugs. Whilst the England international’s creative ability has never been in doubt, many have questioned his ability to score goals. However, this season has seen a marked improvement in this department with four goals already.
The 28-year-old is now in the prime of his career and is showing it with excellent displays week-in week-out. He will be extremely high on confidence at the moment and will be, no doubt, looking to continue his goal-scoring run with a goal at the Liberty on Saturday. You can back the former Southampton man to score anytime at a very profitable 11/5.
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