Klopp Gambles on Premier League Title with Saints Team Selection
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is risking the Premier League title race finishing tonight by making nine changes from the starting XI that won the FA Cup on Saturday.
What with dead rubbers and teams already on the beech, it’s not been a vintage week for our match predictions. But I’ll keep going until the end of the season, as it’s been a good run, all in all.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp hasn’t made it any easier to predict tonight’s match with his team selection either.
Even though the Champions League final is a over a week and a half away, Klopp’s team selection for the Southampton match tonight clearly says he has more than half an eye on the match in Paris.
And wow, to say Jurgen Klopp is taking a risk against the Saints would be an understatement.
Liverpool’s starting XI at Southampton is Alisson, Gomez, Matip, Konate, Tsimikas, Milner, Elliott, Jones, Minamino, Firmino, Jota.
Already without the services of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah due to injury, Klopp has decided to also rest Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sadio Mane from the whole squad.
While Andy Robertson, Thiago, Luis Diaz and Naby Keïta are all on the bench.
Klopp clearly has no intention of flogging his top stars ahead of the Champions League final. But he does have enough quality on the bench if he needs it. I’m tempted to go for the draw, but I have to stick with the Reds.
Verdict - LIVERPOOL WIN
With this being one of my last predictions of the season, I’m throwing in a bonus football betting tip.
Don’t go mad with this one, as it’s Liverpool remember. But I think looking at the Liverpool team tonight, Under 2.5 Goals at 5/4 could be good value.
Over 2.5 Goals is 8/13, and with no Salah and Mane etc, it would be crazy to back that. But Unders at 5/4, is worth a small risk