Between the Premier League and Champions League, we’ve seen two different variations of Liverpool this season. Arne Slot has had a tough job following up on Liverpool’s Premier League title-winning charge of last season, but no one expected the Reds to be 14 points off league leaders Arsenal and currently out of a Champions League place due to going winless in their last five Premier League matches. But to their credit, that malaise hasn’t translated to European play. In that competition, Liverpool are coming off an impressive victory over Olympique Marseille that saw Mohamed Salah make his return to the squad in a shutout victory.
How to watch Liverpool vs. Qarabag, odds
- Date: Wednesday, Jan. 27 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Anfield — Liverpool. England
- Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Liverpool -1000; Draw +900; Qarabag +2200
Returning home to Anfield, they can keep that momentum going if they’re able to secure a top eight place in the league phase, which would give the Reds an automatic berth into the last 16 of the Champions League. Despite their struggles recently, Liverpool have been unbeaten at home in their last six matches, and all they need is a victory over Qarabag to get the job done. With how many games teams at the top levels of soccer need to play in a given season, anything that would save the Reds a couple matches down the road will go a long way, but that doesn’t mean that the Azerbaijani side will be an easy out in this competition.
Among the surprise sides so far, Qarabag are in 18th in the league phase, as one of the surprises of the tournament so far. Coming into this campaign, they had never secured a Champions League win in their history, but here they are on the cusp of making the knockouts with only Liverpool in their path. Because of this, the Reds will need to make sure that they don’t take this match for granted despite being heavy favorites. The defense has been susceptible, with only two clean sheets in their last five matches and Qarabag have been excellent on the counter attack. Even if the Reds go up early in the match, no team have won more points from losing positions than Qarabag. Along with Barcelona, they’ve picked up seven points when going behind.
This will put pressure on Florian Wirtz and Mohamed Salah to push the attack forward while Virgil Van Dijk looks to steady the defense. Like many of the matches on the final day of league phase action, this is one which could be very open but a track meet will certinaly favor the Reds.
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