After two back to back, hard fought wins against Stoke and Aston Villa, Liverpool host Notts County in the second round of the Capital One cup, Tuesday at Anfield. Liverpool and Notts County have faced each other a total of 62 times, with The Reds coming out on top 35 times with 12 draws. The football league 1 team is the oldest football team to play at the professional level in the world. Fortunately, that means absolutely nothing and on Tuesday, Liverpool should brush Notts County aside with relative ease.
Liverpool head into the match full of confidence and will look to take care of business without sustaining any injuries ahead of a huge league clash with Manchester United at the weekend. Notts County are coming off the back of a disappointing 1-0 loss at home to Stevenage and will be looking to cause a huge upset to kick start their season. Liverpool will most likely want to rest a few key first team players in Daniel Agger, Kolo Toure, Steven Gerrard, Coutinho and maybe even Glen Johnson although some could be introduced before the end of the match for a short run out. I expect new signing Aly Cissokho to get his first start at left back.
Notts County will want to put out a strong team as possible and will be well up for his game. I’m expecting County to come out on fire and try to get right in Liverpool’s face. Liverpool will look to play their regular possession based football and with the probable inclusion of Joe Allen and Luis Alberto in the midfield, should be able control the game quite easily. Without European football this season, Brendan Rodgers will badly want to put in strong runs in the cup competitions and will drum it into his players not to take this game lightly at all. A disappointing loss to Swansea last season saw Liverpool knocked out of this competition, which will also provide further motivation to the players to not underestimate any opposition.
As a somewhat pessimistic Liverpool supporter I never usually predict big Liverpool wins, but with the confidence we have after two back to back victories, in all honesty, this should be a walk in the park for the home side and I’m backing at least a 3 goal win for the reds.
I’m going for a 4-1 victory for Liverpool with goals from Raheem Sterling, Luis Alberto, Joe Allen and whoever starts at striker be it Borini, Aspas or Sturridge.
If you’re a gambling man like myself, here are a few punts you may fancy:
1: Liverpool (-2) Handicap –> BET on this market HERE
2: Notts County to score first –> BET on this market HERE
3. Raheem Sterling anytime scorer –> BET on this market HERE
4. Liverpool to win 4-1 –> BET on this market HERE
5: Liverpool to score in the first 15 minutes –> BET on this market HERE
