EPL Betting – Liverpool at Stoke City
Liverpool (+114) at Stoke City (+260), Draw (+260)
With just one match remaining in the 2014-15 EPL season, fifth-place Liverpool can no longer snag a top-four spot and qualify for the Champions League. But the Reds are still playing for a berth in next season’s Europa League, needing to stave off sixth-place Tottenham, who are just one point back. Tomorrow, Liverpool will meet Stoke City – a team they have dominated all season – at Britannia Stadium (10:00 AM Eastern) looking for the full three points to secure their fifth-place finish.
Unfortunately for Liverpool, their recent outings away from home haven’t yielded wins; they drew with Chelsea and West Brom, and lost to Hull City and Arsenal. The last time Liverpool won on the road was against Swansea in mid-March.
Sunday’s game could also mark the final game for striker Raheem Sterling in a Liverpool uniform. The speedy youngster, who is looking to play elsewhere, is scheduled to play on Sunday despite having an open dispute with the managing directors.
“The story has been blown somewhat out of proportion…..[we] have a meeting scheduled … later this week, and we will take proceedings from there”, manager Brendan Rodgers said to the Daily Star in the UK. “It looks like he wants to go and play somewhere else, which is really sad for Liverpool supporters.”
Stoke City have had a decent campaign, all things considered, sitting ninth in the table on 61 points. But the club has little left to play for as they can’t move up or down in the standings. One thing the Potters can accomplish is putting a halt to their struggles against Liverpool, having lost the last three games against the Reds (including a 5-3 loss at home last season).
Stoke have won four of their last six games at home, with wins over Hull City, Everton, Southampton, and, most recently, Tottenham. The loss came against Crystal Palace and the draw versus Sunderland.
Pick: Draw (+260).
(Photo credit: Dean Jones (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
