The halfway stage of the season has well and truly passed us now. Although some teams are yet to complete their first half fixtures due to postponements brought about by a combination of COVID-19 and injuries. Liverpool are one such side that have missed a couple of scheduled fixtures, which makes it all the more impressive that they’re still sat in second place when third placed Chelsea have played two games more.
Still, even by winning their games in hand, and another clash set in April against league leaders Manchester City, Liverpool would still be sat behind City on points unless they drop points in their remaining fixtures. There is nothing Liverpool can do about that though, all the players and manager can do, is focus on their next game and aim to win it.
For Liverpool, that means a third meeting of the season between themselves and Leicester City. So let’s look at how the previous games have gone so far…
So far this season…
Their first game came in the Carabao Cup quarter finals, where Jurgen Klopp fielded a young side against a full strength Leicester team who had their matches postponed for the previous two weeks, giving them a nice break. And it showed on the pitch, when inside 12 minutes, Leicester went 2-0 up at Anfield.
Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain managed to pull one back to halve the deficit, before a wonder strike by James Maddison left Caominh Kelleher no chance of stopping the ball. Klopp made some changes at half time though, removing the young players and replacing them with more experienced heads, and the tide of the match soon switched, Liverpool beginning to do what they do best and dominating possession.
Diogo Jota made the most of his chance in the 68th minute to take the game to 2-3, but Liverpool still needed more. That’s when Japanese winger Takumi Minamino stepped up and controlled a beautiful pass by Trent Alexander-Arnold, striking the ball into the back of the net in the fifth minute of injury time. Giving Liverpool a lifeline to progress in the competition by forcing the game to penalties.
And where he was unable to stop the three earlier goals he conceded, Kelleher showed his qualities by saving two of Leicester’s penalties to take Liverpool through to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup. The atmosphere was electric, the crowd jubilant as the players made their way around the ground to celebrate with their fans.
They would then play each other again just days later over the festive period. This time, away at the King Power stadium. With the previous cup victory, the return of star players like Sadio Mane and Mo Salah, and a decimated Leicester defence, it looked like an easy tie for Liverpool on paper. However, as any Liverpool fan knows, the red men don’t do things the easy way.
As they usually do, Liverpool dominated possession with 68% of the ball throughout the game managing a total of 21 shots. However, they couldn’t make any of them count against a Leicester team with no recognised centre backs and a makeshift back line stuffed with midfielders. Their best chance came in the form of a Liverpool penalty that Salah missed, proving he may actually be human.
Due to the numbers Leicester had, they were happy to sit back, absorb the pressure with their back five and try to catch Liverpool on the counter. And they did just that, when substitute Ademola Lookman caught Liverpool on the break with some sloppy defending just three minutes after coming on. Calmly and cooly slotting past Alisson in the Liverpool goal. Leaving Liverpool facing just their second defeat of the season.
Current form
As it stands, Liverpool are in good form at the moment, haven’t lost a game in their last five, and managing to keep three clean sheets along the way. Their most recent fixture against Crystal Palace in the premier league was a very welcome one, on a weekend where Manchester City dropped points. But it wasn’t without controversy, with opposition fans arguing Roberto Firmino was offside for their second goal, and a contentious decision to award a penalty for a ‘foul’ on Jota.
For Leicester it’s a very different story. They’ve won just two of their last five, but one of those was against Liverpool at the King Power stadium. Outside of them, they were part of a nine goal thriller at the Etihad, losing 6-3 to Manchester City, and let a 2-1 lead slip in injury time, when Steven Bergwijn netted twice in two minutes to steal a win for Spurs at the death. And their most recent fixture, at home to Brighton, once again saw them throw away a lead when Danny Welbeck equalised for the Seagulls in the second half.
Liverpool vs Leicester: Predictions
Both teams will enter this game off the back of a well needed break. Between international fixtures, and the premier league winter break, it’ll mean the two won’t meet until the 10th February. This will be welcome news to Liverpool, who have missed Mane, Salah and Naby Keita through their involvement with the African Cup of Nations, with the tournament scheduled to finish four days prior to the fixture.
It will also see a welcome return for some of Leicester’s stars as well, with Kelechi Iheanacho, Wilfred Ndidi and Daniel Amartey all now knocked out, and Nampalys Mendy still in contention to win the tournament with Senegal.
This means both teams will be ready and raring to go, with arguably their strongest possible lineups. But going off recent form, and the quality on the pitch, Liverpool despite having lost to Leicester around a month ago, are favourites. BetMGM Sportsbook has great odds for this and the rest of the upcoming matches, with Liverpool 1/4, Leicester at 15/2 and a draw at 5/1. And although they faltered last time out, Liverpool will be wanting to correct their mistakes and keep the pressure on City in top spot.
Combine those odds with the fact Liverpool are the highest scoring side in the league this season, and how Leicester have been shipping goals for fun in recent weeks, it could be a great time for the reds to play them. Salah too will also be wanting to redeem himself for his penalty miss. So we’re going to predict a Liverpool win, Salah to score any time and over 2.5 goals in the match for both teams combined, which should see a nice return.