League Cup 3rd Round: Liverpool vs Chelsea Betting Preview & Tips

Liverpool entertain Chelsea in a heavyweight clash at Anfield on Wednesday night as the two Premier League giants battle for a place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

The Reds have enjoyed a sensational start to the new campaign as they’ve won all seven of their games in all competitions so far and sit top of the league table with a maximum 18 points following Saturday’s routine 3-0 win over Southampton.

Chelsea were initially going to toe-to-toe with Liverpool having won their opening five league games but the Blues fell two points adrift and dropped to third in the table after a disappointing 0-0 draw with West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

A quick scan of all the top UK betting sites shows us how close this one is going to be with Chelsea, the away side, only slight outsiders to win the match so it’s expected to be a tight game and it’s going to be fascinating to see who progresses to the next stage of the competition.

Team news

Jurgen Klopp is expected to rest some of his key men with the likes of Andrew Robertson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino all set to make way.

Alberto Moreno, Naby Keita, Xhedran Shaqiri and Daniel Sturridge are among those expected to start while Klopp has confirmed Dejan Lovren and Dominic Solanke are back in contention. Simon Mignolet is also set to make his first start of the season with Alisson Becker given a well earned rest.

Chelsea will be without Antonio Rudiger after he picked up a knock at the weekend while Pedro is also still missing with a shoulder problem and Ruben Loftus-Cheek will miss out with a shin injury.

However, Cesc Fabregas is likely to make his first start of the season and the likes of Gary Cahill, Victor Moses, Ross Barkley, Davide Zappacosta, Emerson and Alvaro Morata are pushing for recalls.

Betting tips

Liverpool are 17/20 to win inside the 90 minutes with Chelsea 3/1 and the draw on offer at 29/10. There is no extra-time now in the League Cup so if the match is all-square after 90 minutes it goes straight to a penalty shoot-out.

However, I fancy Liverpool to edge this one on home soil and my prediction of 2-1 can be backed at 13/2 with leading bookmakers. Over 2.5 match goals also looks a solid bet at 4/5.

I think Sturridge will be keen to impress, especially against his former side, so I’d back him to get on the scoresheet in a Liverpool win at 4/1.

For those looking for more value then you can back Sturridge and Morata to score and both teams to have 4+ corners at odds of 14/1.