Liverpool will be looking to get back to winning ways when they travel to the King Power Stadium to face Leicester City on Saturday lunchtime.
The Reds have seen their hopes of defending their Premier League title derailed this month as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion before going down 4-1 to Manchester City at Anfield last weekend.
Those results have left Liverpool sitting fourth in the table – 10 points adrift of leaders City who also have a game in hand – so the Merseysiders know anything but a win at Leicester would almost certainly end their title hopes this season.
However, the Foxes are also in desperate need of points as they head into the weekend action sitting three points above Liverpool in third and hot on the heels of second-placed Manchester United following another impressive campaign.
Brendan Rodgers’ men are well positioned to secure Champions League qualification again and a win over former side Liverpool on Saturday would further cement their place in the top four.
Betting tips
If we were to use the horse racing form guide symbols on BettingInstitute.co.uk to describe Liverpool’s current form then it would have to be an ‘F’ as the Reds have certainly fallen out of the title race. A run of three defeats in their last five games has left them with a mounting to climb if they want to catch City.
A win at Leicester is imperative if they want to stay in the hunt and Liverpool are the narrow favourites but it would be a brave man to back them at odds of 11/10 given their current form. Given they sit above Liverpool in the table and play at home, Leicester look great value to win the game at odds of 5/2.
However, the draw is also tempting at 5/2 and that would be our tip. For those who want a higher return, a 2-2 draw looks good value at odds of 11/1. For those who want a big pay-day, back James Maddison to score first in a 2-2 for odds of 48/1.
Team news
Liverpool’s recent woes haven’t been helped by a crippling injury list and Klopp will once again be without a number of key players this weekend as Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip remain long-term absentees.
Naby Keita is also still on the sidelines and while Diogo Jota has stepped-up his rehabilitation this month, the attacker is still a few weeks away from being in contention so he’ll also miss the trip to the King Power.
Leicester also have their own injury problems as Wesley Fofana has been ruled out for at least a month with a thigh injury while Dennis Praet, Timothy Castagne and Wes Morgan are also still on the sidelines.
Ayoze Perez is a major doubt after picking up a shin injury in midweek while James Justin is also set to miss out after suffering a knee injury during the FA Cup win over Brighton last night.
Prediction – Leicester 2-2 Liverpool: This should be an exciting game between two sides battling for position in the top four but I think Klopp will have to settle for a point, which may put an end to Liverpool’s title defence.
