Comfortable Win for Liverpool but Huddersfield Look Value on Handicap
With the win for Manchester City on Wednesday night, they are now back at the top of the Premier League, and moved Liverpool down into second place. Just three games remain for both teams, so as well as Liverpool needing to win here against Huddersfield, they also need City to slip up somewhere in one of their three games.
While that is something that they will of course keep an eye on, that doesn’t matter on Friday night as Liverpool are the only team in action. They need to forget about the league situation, forget about Manchester City and go out there and perform well to get three points against bottom club Huddersfield.
This is a game they really should be winning, and Huddersfield will simply be looking to keep things respectable here I think, this should be a comfortable night for the home side.
Huddersfield are bottom of the Premier League and have been relegated for a few weeks now. They have won just three games all season, and only drawn five. This has been a very tough campaign and although relegation is never nice, at least it will give the team the chance they need to drop down to the Championship and re-group before pushing to get back into the Premier League at some point.
Forget a win for Huddersfield, even if they manage to get a draw here it would be a huge shock, and something that no one is expecting. Liverpool should be able to control this game, and eventually they have the quality to score and beat Huddersfield, to keep their title hopes alive.
The Premier League Title Race
Just three games remain for the top two, and as we stand going into the weekend, Manchester City have a one point lead over Liverpool.
Liverpool play at home to Huddersfield, away to Newcastle and at home to Wolves. All three are winnable games, and if you had to pick the toughest for them, it would be their trip to Newcastle next week. However, that isn’t a tough game, and a team like Liverpool should have more than enough to beat Newcastle, especially when their opponents have nothing to play for, while Liverpool have everything to play for.
Manchester City play away to Burnley this weekend, and then face Leicester at home and Brighton away to round off the season. Just like Liverpool they have a relatively easy run in, and they are more than capable of winning all three of their remaining games. The tough one could be the last one, but a lot of that will depend on the position of Brighton and if they need anything from the game. They are down in the relegation battle right now, but could be safe by the time that game comes around, which makes it easier for City. However, if they need something from it, then the game becomes a lot tougher.
Liverpool vs Huddersfield Betting Tips
if you are asking who will win this game, then I think the majority of people will tell you that Liverpool will win, and I think that too. However, when you are looking for a bet on the game, it becomes a different story. Games like this are not the easiest to work out from a betting point of view, especially when you are looking for a value single, as opposed to just simply putting Liverpool in your weekend acca.
While I think Liverpool will win the game, the value bet appears to be backing Huddersfield on the handicap line, with a big start that could be too much for Liverpool to turn over. You can back Huddersfield +3 at 2.40, which based on the recent results we have seen from Liverpool, looks to be good value.
Liverpool have won their last six games as they try to win the title, and there is no doubt they are in good form. However, four of those games, including their last three, have been won by a margin of two goals or more, while the other two have been by just one goal.
We are at a point of the season now where teams are tired and there are a lot of nerves about, and this is certainly true at Liverpool. If this game was at the start of the season when their players were fresh and the prize on offer wasn’t so big, I’d be fancying Liverpool to win this game by three or four, but the game situation will make it a lot tighter I think.
I can see Liverpool either taking an early lead and then sitting back to conserve energy, or taking their time to break the deadlock and winning the game by a small margin. Either way, neither of those will likely be good enough to give them a victory on the +3 handicap line where we are backing Huddersfield.
Our bet covers the unlikely event of a Huddersfield win, as well as the draw and the Liverpool wins by a one or two goal margin. The latter, Liverpool small margin victories, is what I think will happen, and after looking around for value, it is Huddersfield +3 where I think that lies.
This should be comfortable for Liverpool, but they are getting tired and the pressure is on, so I’m not expecting them to run away with things, I think the game will remain pretty close.