UEFA Champions League: Liverpool vs. Ajax Preview, Odds, Prediction

Liverpool and Ajax face in Group A of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. The latest sources from England suggest that the English teams will proceed as planned with the UCL challenges despite the cancellation of the EPL events due to Queen Elizabeth’s death. This is one of the derbies of the round, with both teams combining for 10 European titles. Liverpool is not in a good position, and the Reds have already wasted a lot of points in the EPL. On top of that, they lost in Naples on Wednesday. As for Ajax, the Dutch champions are going as planned, smashing and bashing anyone that stands in their way.

Preview

Liverpool (-200) had the slowest start of the year since Jurgen Klopp arrived at Anfield. Their once fantastic defense is collapsing game after the game showing more and more flaws. A 4-1 defeat in Naples was the peak of Liverpool’s troubles in the back line.

Virgil Van Dijk is nowhere near his usual level of play, and that’s why his team has just two clean sheets in seven games since the campaign started. Also, Liverpool has just three wins during that period.

On the other side, we can say that the Attack is experiencing a crisis of its own, with Mohamed Salah playing mediocre football right now. It is noticeable that the Egyptian’s contribution is far from expected. In six of L’Pool’s games this season, we saw both teams netting, and the same number saw three or more hits.

Ajax (+475) plays fantastic football, and so far, they have seven victories in a row. Following a disaster in the Dutch Super Cup, and losing to PSV 3-5, the Lancers woke up smashing seven rivals, with the last five not being able to score.

During this rampage, Ajax scored 25 times while conceding only three. We are aware that the rivals were mostly mediocre Dutch teams, yet the dominance and the way Lancers handled those events are impressive.

Trashing Glasgow Rangers 4-0 at the Amsterdam Arena was an exclamation point to their exquisite form. Dutch champions were more than convincing in that one.

Latest News

Henderson, Jones, Konate, Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Ramsey are injured for the hosts. Naby Keita is lacking match fitness, but he should be in the protocol, while Kelleher and Fabio Carvalho sit as questionable.

Owen Wijndal is questionable for the Lancers, while Ihattaren should be out.

Head to Head Games

The last meetings between these teams were in the 2020 group stages, and Liverpool won in both games with the same result, 1-0. Previously, these teams faced in the 1966/67 European Cup round of 16, and Ajax had more success winning 5-1 at home and then playing 2-2 in England.

Prediction

The Reds will have to rise above all the problems and win this one, otherwise, they might end up in a negative spiral that would endanger their whole season. Starting the UEFA Champions League without a win after two rounds is disastrous, especially not beating the top two rivals in the group. Therefore, we are behind the Reds here.

Pick: Liverpool wins -200

Here are more previews for the UEFA Champions League games.

• Manchester City vs. Borussia Dortmund
• Glasgow Rangers vs. Napoli
• Real Madrid vs. RB Leipzig
• Bayern Munich vs. Barcelona