Balotelli aims to open account for Liverpool

Premier League

Football
Published: 12/09/2014

Brendan Rodgers will have been delighted with the response from his team at White Hart Lane, beating Tottenham Hotspur by 3 goals to nil having suffered a set back a week earlier, losing 3-1 away to rivals Manchester City. Liverpool, looking to build on the momentum from that away victory will have to make do without leading striker Daniel Sturridge, who returned from international duty with England injured, much to the disgust of Rodgers. This leaves the way open for Mario Balotelli to make his home debut at Anfield and open his goal scoring account for Liverpool. Currently out of the Italian international squad, Balotelli should be well rested and fully fit for this game and bet365 have him available at 15/4 to score first and 20/21 to score at any time during the game. Balotelli has managed to find the back of the net 4 times in his previous 2 games against Aston Villa so will fancy his chances of scoring again in this one. With Sturridge out injured, there may be a starting place in the team for fellow striker Rickie Lambert, who is available at 6/5 to score at any time with Coral.

Having beaten Tottenham Hotspur so comfortably last time out, it`s little surprise to find Liverpool as clear favourites to win this match, the 3/10 available at bet365 highlights this fact. This makes the 39/20 on offer at betway for Liverpool to win and both teams to score a more tempting offer, especially considering that Liverpool did not look comfortable in their only home league outing so far against Southampton, the match finishing 2-1.

Despite Liverpool being favourites for this match, Aston Villa have started the Premier League season strongly and currently sit third in the table with 7 points. In addition to this, Villa are undefeated in their last three visits to Anfield and will not be daunted by the task ahead of them. BetVictor has odds of 5/1 for the Villains to come away with a point and 21/2 to come away with a victory. If Aston Villa are to get something from the game, their striker Andreas Weimann will need to continue his good start to the season, having scored or assisted in all of Villa`s goals in the current campaign. Weimann is 16/1 with paddypower to open the scoring at Anfield and 6/1 with betfred to score at any time during the game.

Despite the positives for Aston Villa coming in to the game, it`s hard to look beyond Liverpool claiming a home win, especially considering the fact that they have won 8 out of their last 9 games at Anfield. Liverpool remain strong going forward but there are still questions about them defensively, so the 3/5 available at BetVictor for there to be over 2.5 goals in the match is appealing. Further good value can be found at BetVictor with the in form Raheem Sterling available at 6/1 to open the scoring. The England international has already found the back of the net twice this season and has the ability to drift past defenders with ease, creating chances not only for his team mates but also for himself.

Go To bet365
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Any odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of publishing (12/09/2014) but are subject to change.

12/09/2014     © Frixo 2024

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