Jurgen Klopp made his debut for Liverpool on Thursday night at home against Rubin Kazan in the Europa League, a match which generally wouldn't have drawn all that much interest. Though Anfield was buzzing for its new boss, the Reds weren't exactly in tip top form, settling for a 1-1 draw against a team which was outmanned and had just 10 on the pitch for two-thirds of the encounter. All of a sudden, Sunday's game against Southampton is starting to look awfully scary for Liverpool.
ODDS ANALYSIS
Liverpool is the favorite in this match, but it isn't by a convincing margin. Yes, 70 percent of the spread bets have come in on the Reds, but this -105 is alarming to us. In previous years, Liverpool would be at least a -150 favorite at Anfield in a match like this one, if not more.
The total is set somewhat low at 2.5 and -128 vig on the under.
KEY INJURIES
With Danny Ings' season now officially over with, Klopp knows that he has to keep this side as healthy as possible. As it is, John Flanagan, Joseph Gomez, Jordan Henderson and Jordon Rossiter are all unavailable for at least the next few weeks. Enough injuries will thin out even the best teams across Europe, and Liverpool is finding that out the hard way right now.
Maarten Stekelenburg missed out on the draw against Leicester last week with a back injury, but he figures to take over in the pipes once again for Southampton in this one. The same can't be said for Shane Lone, who will be out for at least a couple more weeks rehabbing an ankle injury.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"We had a lot of people away on international duty. They came back tired. You could see we were tired. Leicester don't have as many players in the national teams, and it showed. We'll be better this week." – Southampton defender Jose Fonte on the team's 2-2 draw against Leicester City, an unfortunate result for a team which had gone ahead 2-0 at the interval
RECENT FORM
Southampton has had some cracking results of late. Yes, the team drew against the Foxes its last time out, but prior to that, the team beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, crushed Swansea at home and embarrassed MK Dons in the Capital One Cup on the road by a 6-0 count.
Liverpool has yet to win a match under Klopp, drawing against Rubin Kazan and Tottenham in consecutive matches. That's now four straight draws for the Reds across all competitions. The good news though, is they haven't been beaten in a fixture in eight tries.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
The bottom line as we see it is that Liverpool just isn't ready to be an odds on favorite against much of anyone in the Premier League at this point. The Reds have had a lot of disappointing results here at home, the most recent of which was that Europa League match against Rubin Kazan, a fixture which badly had to be won for the morale of the club.
Klopp is still looked upon as a chosen man in England, but if there are too many more subpar results, he and Brendan Rodgers could quickly have more in common than just a poor record with Liverpool in 2015-16.
Southampton has enough class here to get at least a point, so we know we want the half ball on the Asian handicap on our side, and we wouldn't be stunned to see the visitors walk out of Anfield with all of the spoils as well.
Southampton 2, Liverpool 1
BookMaker has English Premier League lines for every match of the season. Liverpool is lined as a -105 moneyline favorite, while the total is set at 2.5. You can make a futures bet and predict the champion, wager on head-to-head matchups or use BookMaker’s live betting feature to gamble while the match is happening.
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! The fixture between Liverpool and Southampton is scheduled for Sunday, October 25, 2015, at 12:15 p.m. ET at Anfield. The match will be televised live on NBC Sports Network.
