(Andy Carroll celebrating that rarest of things - a goal whilst in a Liverpool shirt)
Liverpool are unbeaten at Anfield this season with three wins & six draws in their nine league games but have had too many draws at home to inferior opposition in terms of Norwich, Swansea, Sunderland and on Boxing Day to Blackburn, even the draw with Man United can't be considered a good result as United were listless that day. Their chief problem has been lack of goals with only two of those 9 home games resulting in them scoring more than once & that was against Bolton (3-1) & Wolves (2-1), clearly they are excellent at the back conceding the joint lowest amount of goals in the league & are reaping the benefits of dropping the long in the tooth, but excellent servant, Jamie Carragher. On the plus side they have only failed to find the net at home once but too often only score the once & have had five 1-1 draws. It will be even more difficult for them here as they are without suspended Luis Suarez who's serving a one match ban for his obscene gesture to the Fulham fans, he is undoubtedly their star offensive player & is involved in creating many of their chances. Suarez missing should mean that £35m striker Andy Carroll should start against his former club, with just 3 goals in 19 appearances this year he's really struggling & will be striving for a goal in this one, Liverpool have been playing to his strengths a bit more in recent weeks with crosses from out wide & he's been unfortunate to come up against some keepers in top form but he may just be a little over eager in this one. Their other signing from Newcastle, Jose Enrique has been excellent meanwhile & he'll help to keep the Newcastle forward players in check.
(Fabricio Collocini (tackling) - a player of the year contender?)
Newcastle really impressed on the defensive side of the game early in the season, they only conceded more than once on one occasion in their first 11 games of the year & in our estimation Fabricio Coloccini deserves to be spoken of as a player of the year contender. It was always contended that Newcastle's great early run would come to an end & sure enough after those first 11 games they then lost 4 & drew 2 in their next 6 - there were some tough games there though & they also had some defensive injury problems with Coloccini & Steven Taylor both sitting out games, Taylor is still out for this one (a season ending ruptured achilles tendon) but he's very much the junior partner versus his Argentinian captain. If you took away Demba Ba's goals Newcastle would have scored just 11 times in the league with only Leon Best (with a hattrick) & Ryan Taylor (2 goals) having scored more than once this season, Ba took a knock on the knee in the win against Bolton but should be fit here, he'll cause problems for Liverpool but at least Agger & Skrtel will know he's pretty much all they have to worry about & they have the physical attributes to be able to deal with him better than most. The Magpies may well set up with just Ba up front & Hatem Ben Arfa coming into the lineup to give them a bit more in midfield against Liverpool's robust centre, it should mean that this is a tight one & we're not expecting it to be a great game like the 4-3 games played out close to 15 years ago.
Only 4 of Liverpool's 18 games have gone over 2.5 goals & with their misfiring strikers plus Coloccini back & fit, backed up by the outstanding Tim Krul, this looks like a game to back under 2.5 goals at odds of 10/11. It looks like being yet another frustrating game for Liverpool's players & supporters & they make little appeal at odds of 4/7 to win, a sneaky bet on no goalscorer at juicy odds 11/1 is worth a small punt also.
Selections:
Under 2.5 goals at 10/11 (Various)
No goalscorer at 11/1 (Various)
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