Friday 5th January 2017 Kick off 1955hrs Liverpool v Everton Football – England – FA Cup
The third round of the FA Cup is traditionally viewed as being an important weekend of the year in English football but the significance has deteriorated over the years, and it’s not viewed with the same priority as it once was. That said, this year’s draw resulted in there being a Merseyside derby to look forward to and instantly gets everybody talking about it. Liverpool and Everton both have rich traditions in the competition, including two FA Cup finals contested in the 1980’s when Liverpool were victorious on both occasions. Whilst no silverware is up for grabs on Friday, it is the red half of Merseyside who are once again favourites to prevail.
December was looking like it would be a very frustrating month for Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool recorded two consecutive home draws with Everton and West Brom at the beginning of the month. Those dropped points resulted in them losing ground on the top four at one stage but now the month is over it has actually been a really productive spell for the Anfield club, particularly the festive period. Six wins in their last nine games have seen them reclaim fourth spot and are now only three points behind second placed Manchester United. Although it could have been even better for Klopp and his men had they managed to win the aforementioned games as well as keep their leads against Arsenal shortly before Christmas. That said, getting through the hectic month of December without dropping points is virtually impossible these days and the damage has been minimal for Liverpool. Klopp has elected to rotate his selection in this time and will almost certainly do so again as he tries to negotiate his team’s route to the next round of this competition and ensure his star players are all fit and available for next Sunday’s clash with Manchester City.
It was a very disappointing end to December(and start to the New Year) for Sam Allardyce and his Everton team who failed to win any of their last four matches. Defeats to Bournemouth and Manchester United proceeded goalless draws with Chelsea and West Brom which put an end to what has been a pretty good start for the new manager, who had won two of his first three league games in charge. It’s a sign of how much more there is to do for Allardyce who would have been under no illusions as to the improvements needed to get Everton back challenging for the top six. Despite taking only two points from a possible 12 over Christmas and New Year, they do remain in the top 10 but are a full 17 points worse off compared to their weekend opponents, and city rivals, Liverpool – to give you an indication of the gap that exists. Allardyce and the club’s owners have not wasted anytime in trying to reduce that gap this transfer window with the likely signing of Cenk Tosun for £27m from Besiktas. Scoring goals has been the major problem in Everton’s season and the Turkish internationalist has been identified as being the man to solve that problem, and could be signed in time to feature on the bench.
Liverpool v Everton Betting Tip
It will have been just under a month since these two last faced each other, the league meeting which also took place at Anfield. That game ended 1-1 despite Liverpool’s dominance as a Wayne Rooney equaliser cancelled out Mohammed Salah’s opener. Salah will be injured for this one along with Philippe Coutinho and both are definitely going to be missed such is their quality. Klopp will be able to call upon Virgil Van Dijk who joined the club for a record transfer fee paid for a defender, at the start of this week. One signing alone will not solve all the defensive problems Liverpool have had under their manager but it’s a signal of their ambition that they plan to be challenging for titles rather than settling for a finish in the top four. Everton do not have the same injury problems to concern them but will be hoping that the change in competition can bring with it a chance in fortunes following recent poor results.
Having played so many games in recent weeks, both clubs will be looking forward to getting a break from playing following this one but Friday’s match will determine how they go into that short break. Liverpool are big favourites to progress but no Salah and Coutinho may trouble their flow in the early stages. Everton will in all likelihood look to set up in a similar way to how they approached the league game last month by looking to contain. That may see the opening half being closer than expected so take there being more goals scored in the second half – a bet that has won in four of Liverpool’s last five games.
More goals scored in second half 28/25 @ Marathon Bet
