MK Dons v Liverpool: Reds to march on in Milton Keynes

THE EFL Cup 3rd Round takes centre-stage on Wednesday night. We asked Tom Love (@TomLove_18) to source the best bets from the televised encounter between MK Dons and Liverpool.

MK Dons v Liverpool | Wednesday 25th September 2019, 19:45 | Sky Sports

This game looks like a chance for Jurgen Klopp to give his peripheral squad players a start as they travel to Milton Keynes. We could see the likes of experienced pros Xherdan Shaqiri, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Dejan Lovren all feature from the off.

Up front, the Reds don’t have a barrage of back-ups. Rhian Brewster is likely to get the nod for a rare start and 17-year-old Harvey Elliot could be thrust into the starting line-up too. This clash could also see a possible debut for Sepp Van Der Berg after his arrival from Holland in the Summer.

With such wholesale changes, can we confidently back the Premier League table-toppers at short odds of 1/4? That’s personally not for me.

Sure, MK Dons haven’t set the world alight this season, and their recent home defeat against lowly Southend was a major surprise. Maybe their eyes were firmly on this clash and who can blame them. League sides have to relish these big occasions and there’s no doubt that this squad will have had this game in the back of their minds for a while now.

I think the Dons will make this game pretty competitive and I’m not expecting an onslaught from the Reds. Instead of the skinny quotes on the visitors, we can bump that up to 5/6 (Betway) by throwing in Under 4.5 Goals and that’s a much more attractive price.

All but one of Liverpool’s wins this season have been alongside fewer than five goals, the same can be said for MK Dons losses. Under 4.5 Goals has landed in each of the pairs last six games too and given Liverpool are 1/4 outright, the boost to near even-money looks one worth taking.

If Liverpool take a lead by a goal or too I can see them keeping the ball and MK Dons aren’t overly aggressive in their approach so I’d think it would be hard for them to come back if so.