Liverpool will be looking to put one foot in the knockout stages of the Champions League with a win over Genk at Anfield on Tuesday night.
The Reds head into the game sitting second in Group E on six points after winning two of their three games so far with their only defeat coming against leaders Napoli on Matchday 1 back in mid-September.
Third-placed Salzburg face a tough trip to Italy on Tuesday so victory for Liverpool over Genk combined with a Napoli win would see Jurgen Klopp’s men open-up a six-point lead over the Austrian champions with just two games left to play.
Liverpool should be in buoyant mood after scoring a stoppage-time winner to beat Aston Villa 2-1 on Saturday afternoon and maintain their six-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.
Team news
Liverpool will once again be without the services of Joel Matip as the centre-back is still recovering from a knee injury that’s expected to keep him on the sidelines for a number of weeks.
Xherdan Shaqiri is also ruled out due to an on-going calf problem while Nathaniel Clyne remains on the treatment table with a long-term knee injury.
Klopp is expected to rotate his squad with some of his key players rested ahead of next weekend’s huge clash with Manchester City. Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane are among the players who could be given a breather.
Mohamed Salah may not be risked as he’s still carrying a niggling ankle problem and was subbed off against Villa on Saturday so Klopp might take this opportunity to give the Egyptian a rest.
Predicted line-ups
Liverpool XI: Alisson, Milner, Lovren, Gomez, Robertson, Fabinho, Keita, Wijnaldum, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Origi, Firmino
Genk XI:Â Coucke, Maehle, Cuesta, Lucumi, Uronen, Bongonda, Heynen, Berge, Ito, Samatta, Onuachu
Betting
Liverpool are understandably the heavy favourites to win the game with many sports betting sites pricing the Reds at 1/12 to collect another three points. The draw is available at odds of 21/2 while you can back Genk at huge odds of 30/1 if you think there will be an upset.
There should be plenty of goals at Anfield on Tuesday night. Liverpool scored four in the away game and they will be confident of racking up a similar number at home. You can back Liverpool to score over 3.5 goals at odds of 11/10 while a 4-0 is priced at 15/2.
Prediction
Liverpool 4-0 Genk: came away with a 4-1 win in Belgium in the reverse fixture late last month and they should have no problems easing to a routine victory at Anfield. Klopp fielding a weakened team would limit the damage done but even without their star men, Liverpool will have more than enough quality to get the job done with little fuss. This will be like a final for the Genk players but Liverpool are formidable at Anfield and we predict a comfortable 4-0 win.
