Premiership
Liverpool (10th) v Wolves (20th)
Wednesday 29th December 2010 – 8pm
Liverpool will welcome visitors Wolves with open arms to Anfield on Wednesday night with huge expectations of grabbing all three points off the hapless Midlanders, as The Reds seek their fifth successive home win.
Roy Hodgson’s men have slipped into a frustrating sequence of late with winning at home, yet experiencing three straight defeats away. No doubt Hodgson would like his players to take a leaf out of Fergie’s book and get at least a draw on their travels.
Anyway, its Anfield on Wednesday and they should take another three points which could lift them into eighth spot. I’m sounding rather blasé about all this and for pretty good reason when you consider Wolves’ away record. But let’s take a look at Liverpool’s form first up.
The Reds’ home form reads an impressive 5-2-1 15/6, and I hate to say this to all the naysayers but…I told you so. They just need to improve on their away record of 1-2-6 and they’ll be in a European qualifying place yet! At home in the Premiership though they have been impressive with wins over West Brom 1-0, Blackburn Rovers 2-1, Chelsea 2-0, West Ham 3-0 & Aston Villa 3-0.
What is noticeable though in recent weeks is their tighter defence which has now kept three clean sheets on the trot, and a total of four in eight home matches.
Visitors Wolverhampton Wanderers possess the worst away record in the Premiership taking just the solitary point out of a possible 24, as they drew at Everton 1-1 way back in August.
Since then, Wolves have endured a miserable run of seven straight defeats and it’s difficult to see how they’ll stave off an eighth. Their away stats stand at a disgraceful 0-1-7 5/17, and Mick McCarthy’s men are joint bottom in the away goalscoring charts along with Midlands rivals Aston Villa (both with just 5 goals).
Their last five away matches have yielded just two goals, whilst conceding 11. They’ve also drawn a blank on three occasions in their eight matches on the road so far.
The Verdict: Liverpool’s expected dominance in this fixture is not in question, however I also expect them to win by nil and therefore the only team to score in this match given Wolves’ poor away form.
Pick: Liverpool only to score @ a tempting 2.05 with bet365 looks as good a bet as any
