Europa League Betting – Man U, Liverpool Go International
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am ESTPublished:
Manchester United (+275) at Liverpool (+125), Draw (+240)
England’s biggest rivalry gets an international twist next week when Manchester United and Liverpool meet at Anfield in the first leg of the Europa League’s Round of 16 (Thursday, March 10, at 3:05 PM Eastern).
The history between these two sides is riddled with drama and championship trophies, but neither side is having its best year. (If they were, they’d be meeting in the Champions League instead of fighting for Europe’s consolation prize.) United are a respectable fifth in the EPL, but they’re three points back of Man City for fourth-place (which comes with a spot in next year’s UCL) and City have a game in hand.
Liverpool can’t even say that much. The Reds are mired in ninth, 18 points back of league-leading Leicester and nine behind City.
Liverpool’s thoroughly mediocre performance has them sitting as slight underdogs for their two-game series with United. But they’re favorites for the opening leg at Anfield. If they’re going to advance to the quarterfinals, they’ll need to find a little more offense than they mustered in the Round of 32. The Reds managed just one goal in 180 minutes against Augsburg, a lower-echelon Bundesliga squad that’s not known for its defense.
A similar performance against United is apt to lead to a big fat zero on the scoreboard. Manchester has surrendered just 26 goals in 27 EPL matches this season.
Of course, United’s play at the offensive end has been dreadful all season. They’re the only team in the top-six of the Premier League that hasn’t hit the 40-goal mark. Making matters worse, striker Wayne Rooney is sidelined with a knee injury.
The Red Devils temporarily put their scoring woes behind them in the Round of 32, exploding for five goals in the second leg against Midtjylland at Old Trafford (5-1). United advanced 6-3 on aggregate.
United have also managed to find the net in their two prior matches with Liverpool this year, winning 3-1 at home in September and 1-0 on the road in January. But with the team suffering from myriad injuries, I don’t have any confidence they’ll do so again. Take the draw.
Pick: Draw (+240).
(Photo credit: Dean Jones (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)
Sports Writer
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.
