EFL Cup: Manchester City vs. Liverpool Preview, Odds, Prediction

With the World Cup concluded, we are getting back to national competitions. The first game on our menu is the EFL Cup clash between Manchester City and Liverpool, which takes place on Thursday. The Citizens host the Reds at their Etihad Stadium and want to start the remaining part of the year with a win and boost their morale before resuming the EPL race. Meanwhile, Liverpool needs a victory, something that would regain their confidence, which was lost over the first three months of competing. 

Preview

Manchester City (-110) doesn’t have too many players who are out and who didn’t have enough time to recover following the World Cup. The backbone of the crew is already in the training rhythm with the team, and Guardiola can count on more or less every important player.

Furthermore, Erling Haaland solved all of his issues and used the last month to fully recover and recharge his batteries while studying the rivals and working with Guardiola on some tactical thoughts which could come in handy in the remaining part of the season.

The Citizens were in solid shape before the start of the World Cup, having one loss and four wins in the previous five events. After 13 triumphs in a row in all the competitions, they lost to Brighton in the final game before the start of the World Cup, 1-2.

Liverpool (+285) was oscillating throughout the entire year, and that’s been their biggest issue, along with the terrible defense. Each time Van Dijk and the boys collapsed, the Reds were in problems, regardless of the way their defense played. 

Jurgen Klopp’s unit has six wins and two defeats in the last eight games, and they did show some improvement compared to a disastrous October, when we saw them losing game after game, playing utterly poorly on the road. 

Liverpool played nine events away from Anfield this year, not winning in the opening five, and posting three triumphs in the past four, two of them in the Champions League. They’ve managed to keep just two clean sheets throughout that streak.

Latest News

Alvarez could be with the team on Thursday, but we don’t believe that Guardiola needs to put him in the lineup. 

Arthur and Diogo Jota are injured, and they aren’t in the protocol. Luis Diaz is also sidelined and won’t play.

Head to Head Games

Believe it or not, Liverpool didn’t lose in the last five games against the Citizens, winning the past three, of which two were this year. They beat Man City in the Community Shield and, after that, routed the champions 1-0 in the EPL back on October 16. That was the first game after five straight in which we didn’t see four or more goals and both teams to net. 

Prediction

These two rivals know one another very well, so there isn’t too much for Guardiola or Klopp to come up with that would surprise the other one. We expect to see at least three goals, as well as scores on both ends of the field, and the odds on that are -150, which is a great value.

Pick: Over 2.5 goals and both teams to score -150