Liverpool v Atletico Madrid: Back goals in Anfield showdown

Liverpool v Atletico Madrid: Back goals in Anfield showdown

With both Liverpool and Atletico seeing a lot of goals at both ends, Paul Higham expects to see plenty of goals at Anfield on Wednesday.

Liverpool v Atletico Madrid
Wednesday 3 November, 20:00 kick-off
Live on BT Sport

Reds eye response after Brighton slip

It's been a hectic and crazy couple of weeks for Liverpool with 5-0 wins at Watford and Man Utd either side of a crazy and hectic 3-2 win at Atletico Madrid, and perhaps that showed as they let a 2-0 lead slip against Brighton at Anfield on Saturday.

That's inevitably set off the Twitter doom and gloom merchants, but after away wins at the Wanda Metropolitano and Old Trafford inside a week some come down is always likely, and Brighton capitalised on perhaps a lack of adrenaline in that second half.

After all, Jurgen Klopp's side haven't lost a competitive game of football since the start of April and have won three from three in this tough Champions League group - a fourth win will guarantee their progress.

The Anfield crowd should be up for it and given they also let an early two-goal cushion slip in Madrid a fortnight ago they'll take nothing for granted against the Spanish champions, who won that extra time thriller 18 months ago to dump the Reds out of the tournament.

Naby Keita limping out of that Brighton draw gives Klopp a midfield headache to solve with James Milner out, Fabinho likely out and Thiago's availability unknown they could be down to just Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Curtis Jones as their only three fit senior midfielders.

Atletico have happy memories at Anfield

That 3-2 success was billed as a Diego Simeone masterclass but in truth there was a huge slice of fortune as Liverpool dominated that game, but it'll still mean Atletico arrive on Merseyside without that usual fear factor.

And as they proved in his first fixture, they're a potent attacking threat as they've scored at least twice in their last six fixtures now - but unusually for a Simeone side their defence has left a lot to be desired.

A couple of 2-2 draws has stalled their league progress a little while in this competition they're level on four points with Porto, five points behind Liverpool and a loss at Anfield would have them deep in trouble.

A draw from their toughest fixture wouldn't be the worst result in the world, but they've not exactly been playing like the stubborn, defensively tough typical Simeone team of late. Attack may be their best route to any points here.

Will a new Atletico guarantee goals?

The Reds naturally go into the game as big 1.71 favourites, while Atletico are a huge price at 5.7 - the kind of price that makes you do a double take when you remember they are the Spanish champions after all.

The draw at 4.1 is of interest here, as it wouldn't really hurt either side and they have had nine between them already this season, with Liverpool drawing three of their last five on home turf.

Atletico did earn their fifth clean sheet of the season at the weekend, but they've not kept one on their travels so far, while Liverpool have two out of six games at home and have let half of the sides that have visited Anfield this season score twice.

Wednesday's visitors have scored twice in five of their six away games so it's fair to say that unless something drastic changes that it actually makes the 1.84 on offer for both teams to score look a tad generous.

Over 2.5 goals is almost the exact same price while a Bet Builder double on both teams to score and over 2.5 goals combined comes out at just over evens at 2.02.

Salah set to strike again

Mohamed Salah can equal Steven Gerrard's record of 14 Champions League goals at Anfield if he can bag his sixth goal of the competition this season. He'd have maintained a remarkable run of two goals in every group game so far had he not missed a penalty against Milan!

He leads the goalscoring market at 1.86 anytime to get back on the scoresheet after his run of scoring in 10 straight Liverpool games came to an end against Brighton.

Liverpool were grateful Antoine Griezmann got himself sent off in the first game as he was proving to be a real handful with his two goals and his movement dropping deep was too good at times for the Reds, so they'll be glad he's suspended for this one.

Luis Suarez and Joao Felix could cause problems though - that Liverpool midfield was a weak point against Brighton so especially if Thiago isn't available then Atletico will fancy getting at the heart of Liverpool's defence.

It's famous last words but everything points to goals in a game that could emulate their last eventful meeting.