Liverpool vs Sunderland

Liverpool kept their slim title hopes alive with a 2-0 victory over Sunderland. Of more interest to us is thet fact that we won huge last night with our bet of there being under 2.5 goals. We are truly on a huge roll at the moment with our football betting and long may it continue until the end of the season.

A really busy period for all Premier League teams at the moment, particular those still competing in Europe, and there is a full complement of top flight games over the next 48 hours.

Liverpool’s defeat at the Riverside on Saturday all but confirmed Manchester United as champions and Rafa Benitez’s side face Sunderland at Anfield on Tuesday evening.

Benitez’s focus must now have shifted towards another Champions League triumph given his domestic failings and while it is not impossible for the Merseysiders to catch their fierce rivals, hope is all but gone. I think they’ll find it very difficult to raise their game following Saturday’s disappointment and, against a Sunderland side that is becoming increasingly difficult to beat, a low scoring encounter looks on the cards.

“Finishing second would still be an achievement”, as Benitez has spouted this week, wouldn’t fill any Liverpool fan with much joy and the Spaniard also was quick to blame Fernando Torres’ series of injuries this season in the build up to Tuesday’s game for their shortcomings. That may well be correct but Torres will once again miss out on Tuesday, this time with an ankle problem, and it is hard to see Liverpool dominating their opponents.

The fact that Liverpool look certain to come up short can be blamed mainly on their inability to see teams off on home soil and dropped points against the likes of Hull, West Ham and, most recently, Man City at Anfield have proved costly. Their lack of strength in depth in attacking areas has been ruthlessly exposed in the Premier League and Ricky Sbragia’s men will not come to roll over. In fact, I think Sunderland will fancy their chances and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were to leave with a point.

Djibril Cisse, an ex-Liverpool player of course, and Kenwyne Jones both look set to be passed fit for the Black Cats on Tuesday and the visitors will be looking to climb into the top 10 over the coming weeks. Nobody in the bottom half has a better record defensively away from home than Sunderland, their latest result on the road being a goalless draw at the Emirates, and having not played for ten days they’ll be fresher than their hosts. That said, I expect things to be very tight from the first whistle and the unders looks well overpriced at around the 1.83 mark.

With Real Madrid to come in seven days Rafa could well choose to give a few of his more established men a break and Liverpool face a team beaten just once in in their last six matches. That was a 2-1 defeat at Ewood Park, the only time in that period a game featured more than two goals, and Sunderland won’t go down without a fight.