Saturday 16 September, 15:00
Red ups and downs
The Liverpool rollercoaster has travelled from the 4-0 home win over Arsenal in their last home game before the international break to last week's shattering 5-0 defeat at Manchester City and on to Wednesday's 2-2 home draw with Sevilla in their Champions League opener.
The pattern is well established now that Jurgen Klopp's side will be entertaining, exciting and at times exposed.
Sadio Mane, whose contentious sending-off at 1-0 was a crucial moment in the City game, is starting a three-match ban but the blow will be softened by Philippe Coutinho's probable return to the starting line-up following his appearance from the bench against Sevilla.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, so far restricted to two substitute appearances, is also in contention for a first start.
Wood lifts Burnley
After the opening-day 3-2 win at Chelsea, Burnley have secured two more good results thanks to new £15m striker Chris Wood, who scored the late equaliser in the 1-1 away to Tottenham and the early winner in last week's 1-0 home win over Crystal Palace.
That puts them seventh in the table, one place above Liverpool on goal difference.
The Palace win came with the downside of goalkeeper Tom Heaton's serious shoulder injury, which has put him out of action for months. Nick Pope will deputise but you have to wonder whether Burnley's well-organised defence will be disrupted in the long term by Heaton's absence.
Sean Dyche said this week midfielder Jeff Hendrick has "a really good chance" of returning after a thigh strain.
Liverpool wins usually high-scoring
Amid all the recriminations and criticism that followed the thrashing at City, it was easy to forget that is Liverpool's only defeat in seven matches in all competitions this season and their only blank - in five of the seven, they have scored at least two goals.
Given that they were already a goal down against a top-class side when Mane was dismissed, the criticism aimed at Klopp's side after the City defeat may have been over the top.
Perhaps the more worrying signs in terms of this match came in their laboured 1-0 home win over struggling Crystal Palace, when they could not break through until the 73rd minute - and it was the now-absent Mane who scored.
The supposed risk factor with Liverpool in this type of fixture may be overplayed, however. Last season they won seven out of 10 at home to bottom-half teams (a group likely to contain Burnley again) and several of them were blistering performances - six of those seven wins featured over 2.5 goals. The combination of Liverpool win and over 2.5 goals is available at 1.77 here.
Burnley had the second-worst away record last season (W1 D4 L14) but those headline figures mask a measure of improvement over the campaign - from mid-December onwards, they lost only one out of 13 on the road by more than a single goal and they took something from four of the last eight.
This season they have started even better with the 3-2 win at Chelsea (clearly helped by a one-man advantage for most of the game) and the 1-1 against Tottenham.
Wood and Sam Vokes are a big striking partnership and could cause problems for Liverpool's sometimes questionable defence. Don't rule out Burnley getting on the scoresheet, as 13 opponents did at Anfield last season.
Anfield used to plenty of goals
Last season Liverpool ranked joint-second for home games with over 2.5 goals (13 out of 19) and four of the six exceptions were against teams that finished in the top six.
Burnley will aim to frustrate, as well as make the most of set-pieces, and their developing away profile hints at some chance of success, but few teams can shut out Liverpool.
Since the start of last season Burnley have kept only four clean sheets on the road and conceded at least two goals in 14 of their 21 away matches with 62% of those 21 games going over 2.5 goals.
Over 2.5 goals is 1.61 and it may be worth looking at over 3.5 at 2.48. Last season Liverpool had 47% over that mark at home, rising to 60% against bottom-half teams.
Cards could be dealt
Roger East takes charge of his second Premier League match of the season. He issued four yellow cards in his first, Watford's 2-0 win at Bournemouth, and that was in line with his profile last season, when seven of his 11 top-flight games had at least 40 bookings points.
Recommended Bet
Back Liverpool win and over 2.5 goals at 1.77
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