Can Liverpool Improve To See Off Chastened Basel?

Liverpool head to Switzerland tonight (1st October, 19:45) aware that they will need to improve dramatically on their performance against Ludogorets Razgrad should they want to journey back to Anfield with all three points. A last-gasp Steven Gerrard penalty was needed to split the two sides after Mario Balotelli`s 82nd minute account opener for the Reds was cancelled out by a final minute poke from substitute Dani Abalo. Inexperienced goalkeeper Milan Borjan then fouled Javier Manquillo in his box to see the home outfit awarded the spot-kick in the second minute of injury time, with captain Gerrard securing all three points for Brendan Rogers` men. Elsewhere in Group B, the Swiss Super League champions also had a torrid time, enduring a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Spanish Giants Real Madrid. Four players found their names on the scoresheet for the Champions League holders though the deadlock was broken in the 13th minute by an own-goal from Basel defender Marek Suchy. Derlis Gonzalez bagged the only away goal at the Bernabeu stadium contributing to the 4-1 half-time score-line. The goal represented the first goal of the season for the 20-year-old Paraguayan.

Basel`s current domestic league success, Paolo Sousa`s men are first after ten games in the Swiss Super League, can be attributed to their potency in front of goal. Experienced attacker Marco Streller is the club`s top scorer having netted five of his team`s 23 goals this season. The 33-year-old was on-target in narrow 3-2 victories over FC Sion and FC Thurn during August, his last goal coming on the 29th September in a 3-1 thrashing of top tier new-boys Vaduz. Shkelzen Gashi, the league`s top scorer when at Grasshopper, has bagged four since his defection to Basel whilst young midfielder Luca Zuffi has three goals to his name. The potent Streller is 4/1 (betway) to grab the first Basel goal with both Gashi at 13/2 (betway) and Zuffi at 8/1 (Betvictor, betway).

In spite of Basel`s home advantage and their confidence in front of goal, Liverpool have been made the clear 23/20 (Betvictor, Coral, paddy Power) favourites for tonight`s match-up. The Reds have been unable to re-capture the form they showed last season when finishing runners-up in the Premier League, having already lost half of the six games they`ve played, but are still anticipated to have too much for Sousa`s men who are 11/4 with most bookmakers. A draw can be backed at 13/5 (Numerous).

The away side will be without their own potent striker, England international Daniel Sturridge who`s still not available to play for the Merseysiders. Twenty-five-year-old Sturridge was ruled out for three weeks after sustaining a thigh strain when training with his national team though is expected to play some sort of part in Saturday`s clash with West Bromwich Albion. With 21 goals last season, the Birmingham-born star was one of the top scorers in the league and will be looking to build upon the opening day winner he scored against Southampton. Mario Balotelli is set to continue his run in the team and can be backed at 6/1 (Betvictor) to score first. Should they feature, back-up forwards Fabio Borini and Rickie Lambert are 17/2 (Spreadex) and 7/1 (Betvictor, Coral) respectively to convert their first of the season at any time.

Liverpool`s only other injury is to disgruntled defender Mamadou Sakho. The centre-back is still recovering after coming off worse for wear in a training session, though made no friends when leaving Anfield early following the team`s draw against 1-1 draw against local rivals Everton.

Rogers will know that his squad will have to pull together with Basel sensing that they could be responsible for an early upset.

`We could create a story tomorrow which will be remembered in the future,` Manager Paolo Sousa told a press conference.

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01/10/2014     © Frixo 2026