Liverpool v Bournemouth: Back a low-scoring affair at Anfield as the Cherries come to town

Liverpool v Bournemouth
Monday August 17, 20:00
Live on Sky Sports 1

Liverpool

In what was a fairly turgid affair at the Britannia Stadium on the opening weekend of the season, Liverpool were able to secure three points thanks to a moment of genius from Brazilian attacking midfielder Philipe Coutinho and with that long-range effort that beat goalkeeper Jack Butland, they also exorcised the demons of last season's 6-1 defeat in the same fixture.

Now an opportunity to build on that and improve on last season's poor start has presented itself as the Reds face promoted Bournemouth on Monday night. Manager Brendan Rodgers will expect nothing less than a win here, and with the signings that he made in the summer he knows he has the personnel to make short work of Eddie Howe's men.

Daniel Sturridge, Joe Allen and Jon Flanagan all remain injured and won't feature.

Bournemouth

It was a fairly harsh welcome to the top flight for Eddie Howe and Bournemouth against Aston Villa on the opening day - the Cherries looked decent in patches, had some chances, but still ended up with nothing to show for it thanks to Rudy Gestede's winner.

The bad news for fans of the south coast club is that the games don't really get any easier, and now they're faced with a pretty daunting task trying to get something from a game against Premier League giants Liverpool.

How Howe approaches this game will be fascinating, will he stick to his open, flowing style that's served him so well over the years, or will they look to keep things tight in the hope of nicking a point? Whatever he decides to do, he'll have to do it without Harry Arter and new signing Christian Atsu, both of whom are injured.

Match Odds

Liverpool are as short as you'd expect for this encounter, currently trading at 1.48 to win. Although the Anfield side regularly trade far too short in my opinion, I rate this as just about fair - the Cherries don't have much of a chance of getting anything out of this game, and the Reds should be confident as the far more accomplished side.

What it comes down to though is if you consider 1.48 as value, and it's too early in the season for me to argue that it represents a good bet. For me, we need to look at other markets to get a decent bet here.

Bournemouth are currently priced at 8.40 and The Draw is 4.80.

Over/Under 2.5 Goals

I wasn't particularly impressed with Liverpool going forward last week, but at the back they looked pretty solid. Dejan Lovren was great, new signing Joe Gomez looked wise and strong beyond his tender years and Stoke struggled to break through. That said, up front they still look a bit unbalanced; I personally found Christian Benteke an odd signing for such a big amount of money - Rodgers and his side have never really played in a way that would suit him.

If Bournemouth look to sit and defend resolutely while trying to break, which I think they might, they have it in them to keep the home side out. Unders, priced generously at 2.18 has to be the call here.

Recommended Bet

Back Under 2.5 Goals at 2.18