Liverpool look to reignite their title defence as they welcome Burnley to Anfield in Thursday Night Football.
Victory would see Liverpool stay fourth and move to within a point of Manchester City and Leicester, whereas Burnley could climb to 15th with a shock win.
Team News
Joel Matip could return for Liverpool after recovering from an adductor injury, despite not being deemed fit enough for Sunday’s goalless draw against Manchester United.
Naby Keita (muscle), Diogo Jota, Konstantinos Tsimikas, Joe Gomez and Virgil Van Dijk (all knee) remain absent.
Burnley could welcome Charlie Taylor back from a hamstring injury after he was deemed unfit for Saturday’s defeat at West Ham.
Bailey Peacock-Farrell could be in contention for the bench if he overcomes illness in time.
Stat Attack
- Liverpool are unbeaten in their last seven meetings against Burnley (W5, D2).
- Burnley have failed to win six previous Premier League trips to Anfield (D2, L4).
- Reds’ Robert Firmino and Sadio Mane have both scored three goals in two of Liverpool’s last three clashes against Burnley.
- No Burnley player this season has made more clearances than the 71 clearances produced by James Tarkowski in 15 league appearances.
- Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has produced the most shots in the league this season out of all African nationality players, having created 57 shots in 17 appearances.
Prediction
Having wasted opportunities to beat Man Utd on Sunday, I feel that we are going to see Liverpool come out and do a lot of attacking, aided by a strong defence with Alisson proving a tough test to get past in goal.
Burnley meanwhile look like they’re in for another defensive display although they did a cracking job at West Ham when got on the attack, although a lack of finishing and end product to their creativity cost them heavily against the Hammers.
In all honesty, this feels like a case of not who will win but more of how many goals will Liverpool get given their home form against the Clarets but Sean Dyche’s men will definitely make a tough fight here.
Prediction: Liverpool 2-0 Burnley
Result: Liverpool 0-1 Burnley