Big Game Focus: Liverpool v Norwich

Liverpool narrowly missed the Premier League title last season and they will be hoping they can get off to a good start when they host Norwich City on their opening day of the season. Bet on the match here.

The Reds are coming off the back of a relatively poor pre=season showing, although they showed improvement in their Community Shield match against Manchester City. They managed just one win from their last five friendlies, but we all know how things can change once the first competitive whistle is blown.

Norwich on the hand have won three of their last five pre-season friendlies, beating Schalke, Luton, and Toulouse in between defeats to Brentford and Atalanta. Daniel Farke has instilled his trademark attacking brand of football and as a result the Canaries scored ten goals in these five games.

Betting preview

Liverpool won 16 of their last 18 Premier League home games last term, so the best value looks to be a Liverpool win. You can enhance that to be 0:1 Handicap Liverpool Win at odds of 1.45 for decent returns.

Norwich have not failed to score in a competitive match since their FA Cup defeat to Portsmouth in January, and away from home they found the net in all but one of their games last season. Liverpool conceded in five of their final ten Premier League matches at Anfield last season any thus you can back Both Teams to Score at odds of 2.10.

Over 2.5 Goals have landed in three of Liverpool’s last four outings and the same is true for all but one of Norwich’s last five fixtures. There has been a total of 27 goals in the past five meetings between the two sides. We definitely expect a lot of goals here and therefore you can back Over 2.5 Goals at odds of 1.40.

Team news                                                                                                      

Sadio Mane has only recently returned to the club following his AFCON duties with Senegal and could be rested, while James Milner has a minor muscle complaint and will be assessed ahead of today’s match.

Christoph Zimmermann is ruled out for Norwich, which could see Timm Klose, who is a doubt, start alongside Ben Godfrey in defence.

Possible lineups

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Salah, Firminho, Mane.

Norwich City: Farhmann, Aarons, Godfrey, Klose, Lewis, McLean, Vrancic, Buendia, Stiepermann, Hernandez, Pukki.