A Friday night FA Cup football clash between two Premier League local rivals could be the perfect tonic for keeping your Dry January on track by staying in as the first weekend of the year approaches.
Liverpool and Everton clash at Anfield and you don’t even need Sky or BT to watch this one as our licence fees are going towards what will hopefully be a superb start to an exciting weekend of FA Cup action at 7.55pm.
No, the magic of the Cup has not gone – despite all non-league teams having exited in the second round.
Team News
The big team news for Liverpool is that their new £75 million man Virgil van Dijk – the most expensive defender in football history – could be handed his debut by Jurgen Klopp following his move from Southampton.
Sadio Mane and Mo Salah will be landing back in the UK just hours before the game after attending the Confederation of African Football Player of the Year awards in Accra, Ghana, on Thursday.
Mane should still play providing they didn’t book their flight with Monarch, but Salah is expected to miss out through injury.
Betting Focus
Phillipe Coutinho – the subject of intense transfer speculation surrounding Barcelona – Nathaniel Clyne and Jordan Henderson are also expected to miss out.
Everton are still without Ross Barkley, Ramiro Funes Mori, Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Jonjoe Kenny will be pushing for recalls.
On the face of it this should be a home win, but with two of the Reds’ big four looking likely to miss out it may not be as comfortable as it could be.
Big Sam Allardyce will make sure his Toffees side stick to the task in hand, just as they did when they netted a late equaliser at Anfield in the 1-1 Premier League draw in December, against the run of play.
Having said that, I fancy Liverpool to prevail overall but it might just take a bit of time to do so, so I’m backing Draw at half-time, Liverpool to win at full-time at 16/5.
Adam Lallana played 86 minutes of Liverpool’s victory at Burnley on New Year’s Day – his first Premier League start since May – after a nightmare injury period, and I like the look of him at 10/1 each-way to grab the first goal of the game.
Most of the pre-match talk will centre around the world’s most expensive defender van Dijk.
I fancy him to cope with the hype and show why the Reds have parted with their riches, so am having a small bet on him to land the Man of the Match award at a huge 16/1.
After Liverpool and Everton have faced off there are plenty of other FA Cup games to keep our interest over the weekend, and I have 189/1, 14/1 and 9/1 tips on The 4-4-2 Betting System right here.
Liverpool v Everton Betting Tips
Draw at HT, Liverpool FT – 16/5 (Betway – bet HERE)
Adam Lallana FGS each-way – 10/1 (Bet365 – bet HERE)
Virgil Van Dijk MOTM – 16/1 (William Hill – bet HERE)
Good luck and follow The Set Odds for more tips!
