Title-chasing Liverpool welcome relegation battling Watford to Anfield in a huge Premier League clash.
Victory would send Liverpool top for at least a few hours ahead of Manchester City, whereas a win would see Watford stay in the relegation zone but by virtue of goal difference with Everton not in action until Sunday.
Team News
Mohamed Salah is set to return for Liverpool after a foot injury forced the Egyptian striker to miss their FA Cup Quarter-Final victory at Nottingham Forest last time out, although he did feature in Egypt’s World Cup Qualifying play-off exit during the international break.
James Milner (illness) and Naby Keita (knee) are doubts but Trent Alexander-Arnold (hamstring) remains absent.
Watford have no fresh injury concerns to report as Jeremy Ngakia looks to return from a hamstring injury, which forced him to miss the Hornets’ last three matches.
Nicolas Nkoulou (hamstring) and Kwadwo Baah (ankle) are also in contention.
Stat Attack
- Liverpool have dropped just seven points in their last 11 meetings against Watford (W8, D1, L2), since Jurgen Klopp arrived at Anfield in late 2015.
- Watford have lost each of their last seven visits to Anfield in all competitions (L7).
- Three Liverpool players have scored braces across the Reds’ last two home games against Watford (Sadio Mane, Virgil Van Dijk & Mohamed Salah).
- Sadio Mane has scored four goals in Liverpool’s last three league matches played at home.
- Watford are unbeaten in three of their last four away matches (W2, D1, L1), during which they’ve kept two clean sheets.
Prediction
Having fought their way past Nottingham Forest in a scrappy FA Cup encounter last time out despite missing Salah and Sadio Mane, Liverpool now need to focus on playing their best attacking game clinically if they’re to really push for the Premier League title.
Watford meanwhile haven’t played in almost three weeks but will come into this crunch run-in off the back of an impressive away win at Southampton, in which they defended well throughout and clinically took their chances to give themselves a solid chance at survival.
I however just don’t see Watford getting anything here unless they’re at their absolute defensive best which is quite tricky to visualise, especially against Mane and Salah but if they defend like they did last time out then this might be closer than some might think.
Prediction: Liverpool 2-0 Watford
Result: Liverpool 2-0 Watford
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