Rodgers desperate for victory against West Brom

Coming off the back of not only a disappointing result but also a poor performance against Basel on Wednesday night, Liverpool really need to get their season back on track at Anfield on Saturday with a win against West Bromwich Albion.

Brendan Rodgers is starting to feel the pressure of having such a good season in 2013/14 weighing down on him and the criticism of team commitment from captain Steven Gerrard after the game in Switzerland will have hurt the manager. The home match against West Brom has already turned in to a must win for Liverpool, even this early in the season, if they are going to challenge at the top of the Premier League again.

On the other hand, West Bromwich Albion come in to the game full of confidence after a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Burnley at the Hawthorns last weekend. Despite discontent at the start of the season with the appointment of manager Alan Irvine, West Brom have been making progress and can point to the result against Tottenham Hotspur as well as Burnley as a sign of this improvement.

The impending return of Daniel Sturridge could hold the key to this match, especially following another poor performance from Italian striker Mario Balotelli against Basel which drew stinging criticism from former Liverpool general Graeme Souness. If Sturridge is fit, Rodgers will have little choice put to throw him back in to action at some point during the match and paddypower offer 7/2 for the England international to score first. With Raheem Sterling and Lazar Markovic both struggling with fitness and form respectively, Adam Lallana could find himself back in the starting line-up and the attacking midfielder is 7/1 to open the scoring. As Sturridge will be lacking in match fitness, Balotelli is sure to play some part in the game too and is evens with betfred to score at any time during the 90 minutes.

West Brom, despite their local rivalry, will take heart from the fact that Aston Villa managed to secure a win at Anfield recently and Rodgers has struggled in the past when coming up against teams who can stay organised at the back and hit the reds on the counter-attack. Irvine will be looking to players like England under 21 international Saido Berahino and the quick Stephane Sessegnon to provide the cutting edge for his team in attack. Both Berahino and Sessegnon are 14/1 with bet365 to grab the first goal of the game.

Liverpool won the corresponding fixture last season by 4 goals to 1 with the now departed Luis Suarez scoring a hat-trick. It`s unlikely Liverpool will be able to record such a convincing win this time around and although they looked better against Everton, their defence still looked suspect at times and this showed no signs of improvement against Basel. Therefore, expect West Brom to score at least once in this game and with Balotelli misfiring and Sturridge short of match fitness, a 1-1 draw is a real possibility and can backed at 10/1 with BetVictor. If you fancy West Brom to capitalise on Liverpool`s current poor form and come away with all 3 points, Coral are offering odds of 28/1 for this outcome. However, expect the Liverpool fans to really get behind their team and push them on knowing that victory is a must to stay in contention at the top and bet365 have the home team at 8/1 to come away with a 2-1 win.

As an outside bet, it`s worth noting Liverpool`s recent problems defending corners and free-kicks and West Brom will be looking to capitalise on this. With good delivery from corners by Chris Brunt, Craig Dawson is 40/1 and Joleon Lescott is 50/1, both with bet365 to score first at Anfield, with Cristian Gamboa at 22/1 with BetVictor to score at any time.

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03/10/2014     © Frixo 2026