LIVERPOOL take on Everton in Saturday's Premier League action. Tom Love (@TomLove_18) shares his betting thoughts.
Liverpool vs Everton | Saturday 20th February 2021, 17:30 | Sky Sports
This Merseyside derby could have some added spice after the aftermath of the reverse meeting where Jordan Pickford injured Virgil Van Dijk which was no doubt a contributing reason to the Reds blowing up their title challenge.
You’d hope it would make the game a feisty one. It’s been sad to see the demise of derby games from a pure hatred point of view, the no fans factor also tends to play its part in more tepid encounters but there’s no doubt that dirty encounters are the best ones to watch from a fan’s perspective.
I’m banking on some added bite here especially with the pressure growing on Liverpool to get a home win and arrest their worrying dip in results at Anfield. They’ve actually being among the cards a lot more of late, carded in 8 of their last 9 in the league as well as being carded twice or more in 7 of those.
Everton also like a card, they rank 5th for cautions this season and have picked up 2 or more cards in 4 of their last 5 on the road, interestingly their last 5 away opponents have also seen a minimum of 2 cards.
You rarely go looking for cards in games involving the Reds but the 12/5 (Bet365 BetBuilder) on both sides collecting over 1 card is too big to ignore on recent form and the derby factor. Chris Kavanagh is an ok referee for cards by premier league standards, averaging comfortably over 3 per game this campaign.
I’ll also dip into the props market, I was keen on Liverpool on a shot handicap but can’t seem to find anywhere pricing such a market up. Everton nearly always concede more shots than they attempt themselves and Jurgen Klopp will be telling his troops to shoot on sight against the hapless Jordan Pickford.
There’s a couple of Liverpool players who stand out to me here on Pokerstars. Firstly I’ll take midfielder Thiago to attempt a shot outside the box at 17/20. The Spaniard is averaging 1.1 shots per game and all but 1 of his strikes this season has been beyond 18 yards out.
I’ll also have a tickle on left-back Andy Robertson to attempt a shot at 6/5. He’s odds-on everywhere else and had two efforts at Leicester last time out in the league as well as having a pop against Leipzig midweek. We all know how key the full backs are to Liverpool’s style of play and the Scot could be in with a sniff here at a nice price.
Best Bets
Liverpool vs Everton – Both Teams Over 1 Card (12/5 Bet365)
Liverpool vs Everton – Thiago 1+ shot outside the box (17/20 Poker Stars)
Liverpool vs Everton – Andy Robertson 1+ shot (6/5 Poker Stars)
