Sunday afternoon can be a crucial day for Swansea City and Liverpool. The Swans need three points to ensure safety for next season in the Premier League once and for all, while Liverpool will need three in order to have any sort of shot of claiming a spot in European soccer next season.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Swansea City +230
Liverpool +115
Draw +250
Over/Under 2.5 (over -110)
ODDS ANALYSIS
These two teams are separated by eight spots on the Premier League table, and it's showing in this spread. Swansea City, a team which has been good at home this year at 7-5-5, is a +230 underdog on its home turf. Then again, Liverpool, in spite of its seventh place stature, is still being lined as if it's one of the best teams in the league. The Reds are the +115 favorite, essentially making it just better than a 50/50 proposition that they don't get the maximum three points out of this duel.
The total is set at a flat 2.5.
KEY INJURIES
Liverpool hasn't had a great year on the injury front, and those woes are still carrying over at this point. Christian Benteke is likely out for the rest of the year thanks to an injury he suffered playing for the Belgian national team, while Emre Can is finished for the campaign, too. Danny Ings and Jordan Henderson are both long-term absentees, and Mamadou Sakho isn't available for selection for the time being while he's being investigated in an drug scandal.
The Swans have no major injury woes.
LIVE BETTING
Swansea really hasn't played inspired ball of late. The team has been clocked by Newcastle and Sunderland in consecutive matches by a combined score of 7-0. With new ownership and a new coaching staff set to come in for next year along with the promise that the team is going to be gutted and rebuilt from the ground up, there isn't a lot for a lot of these players to play for, especially with such a tough schedule to finish out the term.
At the same time, Jurgen Klopp's side would be forgiven for looking past this trip to Liberty Stadium. The Reds have to play twice against Villarreal in the Europa League semifinals, first in Spain this Thursday, then again at Anfield next week. This is the sandwich match.
To Liverpool's credit, it did pick up big wins against Bournemouth and Everton in recent weeks, and a 2-2 draw against Newcastle doesn't feel quite as bad as it looks on paper knowing that the Magpies are fighting a great fight to get out of the relegation zone.
QUICK PICK
The big concern we have here with both of these teams is a lack of motivation. Liverpool has its sights set on greater goals, and Swansea is more or less just playing out the string.
Generally speaking, when motivation is at its lowest, goal scoring is at its highest. This match could look a little more like a slight more organized friendly fixture than a competitive duel in the Premier League.
Liverpool has been on a scoring rampage as well of late with at least two goals netted in five straight clashes across all competitions.
We're not sold that the Reds will be able to finish this game off against a Swansea side which is bound to put the ball in the back of the net again at some point, especially being back at home with a couple of dismal results on the road. Though we aren't sold on a side, we do think at least four goals will hit the board.
English Premier League Odds: Swansea City 2, Liverpool 2
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