Football betting tips: Premier League
2pts Darwin Nunez to score anytime at 21/20 (bet365)
They may have been the ante-post favourites for relegation but Luton Town are not going to go down with a whimper.
They are four points off the foot of the Premier League table and only one away from safety.
After a timid start to the season, the Hatters are beginning to show their teeth.
Rob Edwards' side snatched a point from the jaws of defeat at the City Ground in the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest to build more momentum following a win at Goodison and a point against Wolves.
Tottenham were the only team to keep them at bay domestically over the last six games and the hosts will certainly fancy their chances of bloodying the nose of Liverpool.
What are the best bets?
Squad depth is one thing but keeping a myriad elite players happy, fit and firing is another.
It is a balancing act Jurgen Klopp looks to have mastered this campaign.
Though none of the trio can be pigeonholed as number nines, Diogo Jota, DARWIN NUNEZ and Cody Gakpo compete for that position.
Between them, the attackers have combined to make 26 top-flight appearances this campaign and fewer than 100 minutes separates their total playing time.
Jota has scored five in nine starts, Gakpo has four in his last four and Nunez has found the net in each of his last three appearances.
With the latter in line to start at Kenilworth Road, it is his price TO SCORE ANYTIME that appeals.
When asked about Nunez, Klopp said: “It’s only the beginning. I am a bit afraid of the heights he could reach.”
After some teething issues, it looks like Darwin is evolving into Liverpool’s main man.
BuildABet @ 42/1
- Over 3.5 goals
- Both teams to score
- Darwin Nunez to score 2+ goals
- Tom Lockyer to be shown a card
Edwards’ side have shown fighting spirit recently.
They lost their first two games by an aggregate scoreline of 7-1 but since then have picked up five points and only lost by more than one goal in one of eight games.
At the Kenny, the Hatters have only failed to score against the stubborn 10-men of Tottenham. Goals should be rife against a chaotic Reds side.
Score prediction: Luton 1-4 Liverpool (Sky Bet odds: 12/1)
Team news
Darwin Núñez messed up his first touch. Bournemouth fans laughed at him.
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 2, 2023
Five seconds later, he silenced them in the most Darwin way possible 👉👂
(via @LFC)pic.twitter.com/jiE07CIj4z
Luton could be without six players for the visit of Liverpool with Jordan Clarke and Amari’i Bell potential doubts. The pair would join Mads Andersen, Daniel Potts, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Reece Burke in the treatment room.
Edwards could shuffle his deck regardless, with Tahith Chong and Elijah Adebayo in the frame to return at the expense of Jacob Brown and Chiedozie Ogbene in attack.
Klopp will make wholesale changes from the League Cup victory in midweek. Gakpo, Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones, Joe Gomez and Caoimhín Kelleher should all drop out.
Wednesday’s matchwinner Nunez will likely spearhead the attack flanked by Mohamed Salah and Jota.
Predicted line-ups
Luton: Kaminski; Kabore, Osho, Lockyer, Mengi, Doughty; Nakamba, Barkley; Ogbene; Morris, Adebayo
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Salah, Nunez, Jota
Match facts
- This is the first meeting between Luton and Liverpool in any competition since January 2008, when the Reds won an FA Cup third-round replay 5-0 at Anfield.
- Liverpool have lost just one of their last 10 meetings with Luton in all competitions (W5 D4), going down 3-1 at Kenilworth Road in February 1991.
- Luton are unbeaten in their last four home league games against Liverpool (W2 D2), with this the first such meeting since a goalless draw in August 1991.
- Luton are yet to keep a Premier League clean sheet in 10 games this season, the first time they’ve failed to keep a clean sheet in their opening 10 league games since 2019-20 in the Championship. In what is their first ever season in the Premier League, they are looking to avoid becoming only the second team to concede in each of their first 11 games in the competition, along with Leicester in 1994 (first 18).
- Liverpool have lost just one of their last 21 Premier League games (W14 D6), a late defeat to Spurs in September. They have, however, lost their last two away games against newly-promoted sides, last having a longer such run between December 2010 and March 2012 (four in a row).
- Luton have scored six of their nine Premier League goals this season in the final 10 minutes of games, with only Arsenal (7) scoring more in that timeframe. However, only two of the last 31 Premier League goals Liverpool have conceded have been in the final 10 minutes of games.
- Only Tottenham Hotspur (178) have attempted more shots in the Premier League this season than Liverpool (176), with the Reds amassing the highest expected goals total (22.4). Their average of 17.6 shots per game is their second-highest in a Premier League season under Jürgen Klopp, behind only 2021-22 (19.2).
- Only three players have created more chances in the Premier League this season than Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai (25), who, against Nottingham Forest, became the second Hungarian to assist two goals in a Premier League game along with Zoltán Gera. It’s the most chances created by a player in his first 10 appearances in the competition since James Rodríguez for Everton in 2020 (also 25).
- Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has been involved in 32 Premier League goals in 2023 (20 goals, 12 assists), with only Erling Haaland having more goal involvements (33). Indeed, the last three instances of a player both scoring 20+ goals and assisting 10+ goals in a calendar year have all been achieved by Salah (28 goals, 12 assists in 2018 and 24 goals, 11 assists in 2021).
- Only James Ward-Prowse (16) has created more chances via set plays than Luton’s Alfie Doughty (14) this season. Doughty has also made 23 successful crosses, with only Kieran Trippier having more (31).
Odds correct 1125 GMT (03/11/23)
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