THE DETAILS
Venue – Turf Moor, Burnley
Referee – Chris Kavanagh
Date & Time – Saturday, August 31st @ 17:30
Current Odds – Burnley 8/1, Draw 4/1, Liverpool 1/3
It’s back to business for Jurgen Klopp’s mighty Reds this Saturday evening when Liverpool attempt to take all three points from a tricky visit to Burnley.
FORM
Burnley Form
Burnley have a 1-1-1 record from their opening three Premier League games of the season. Sean Dyche’s men beat Southampton 3-0 on the opening weekend, were unlucky to lose 2-1 away to Arsenal and drew 1-1 at Wolves last time out.
Burnley last beat Liverpool in 2016, winning 2-0 at Turf Moor.
Liverpool Form
Liverpool made it three wins from three against Arsenal at Anfield, winning 3-1, leaving The Reds as the only team in the Premier League to still have a 100% record.
Klopp has had to rotate his squad in the early weeks of the campaign thanks to extra fixtures such as the Community Shield and the UEFA Super Cup.
At Southampton, a slightly weakened midfield selection was able to do enough to see the game out. It will be interesting to see how Liverpool line up against Burnley seeing as they have had a week to rest, recuperate and prepare for the match.
TEAM NEWS
Burnley Team News
Steven Defour and Robbie Brady are both missing for Burnley due to injury while Johann Gudmundsson will face a late fitness test.
Sean Dyche has a pretty settled 4-4-2 lineup, much like he had last season.
Ashley Barnes has started the season well and will relish the opportunity of taking on Virgil van Dijk in front of the home crowd.
Liverpool Team News
Naby Keita, Alisson Becker and Nathaniel Clyne are all ruled out through injury.
Joel Matip’s impressive performance against Arsenal, along with his first-half goal, should have done enough to ensure he starts again this weekend. This will be at the expense of Joe Gomez who will most likely be on the bench again.
Klopp’s current favoured midfield trio consists of Fabinho at the base with Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum ahead of him. He will probably stick with this selection for Burnley, meaning Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner will have to settle for a squad place.
The front three are all fit and firing so nothing changes up there.
PREDICTED LINEUPS
Burnley XI (4-4-2) – Heaton; Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Pieters; Gudmundsson, Cork, Westwood, McNeil; Barnes, Wood
Liverpool XI (4-3-3) РAdrian; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino, Man̩
WHEN THEY LAST MET
Liverpool have won on their last two visits to Turf Moor. Last season’s game ended 3-1, on a night when Joe Gomez suffered a fracture to his lower left leg. All the goals came in the second half in that game. Jack Cork gave Burnley the lead before James Milner’s penalty levelled it up. Roberto Firmino and Xherdan Shaqiri also scored to give Liverpool the win.
The Reds won 4-2 in the meeting at Anfield back in March.
PREDICTION
Burnley 0 – 2 Liverpool
Liverpool really are the mentality monsters now. They are never beat and certainly don’t know how to give up. They will need to summon that strength on Saturday at Turf Moor in what will be a very physical game in front of a pumped-up crowd.
Like last season, they should have enough to get the win with Mohamed Salah’s piece sure to cause them countless issues on the counter-attack.
