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The Premier League (PL) resumes this weekend, and the title race is well and truly alive people.
Liverpool have cut Manchester City’s lead to one point, and the two are set to meet in 11 days for the biggest match of the season. Before that, they face relegation-threatened sides, and I have a couple of plays, and a price boosted Parlay for you to consider.
All stats are taken from FBREF.com, and odds are taken from Pointsbet and reflective at the time of writing.
Liverpool vs. Watford (Saturday, 7:30 AM EST, Live on USA)
Liverpool plays first and will move into top spot if they avoid defeat. This will do psychological wonders for their title challenge. Jurgen Klopp will be pushing his players to turn up the pressure on their title rivals and maintain their recent outstanding PL form 9W-1D.
That success has been built on a solid backline, who have kept seven clean sheets in their last ten PL matches, with four coming at home. Their previous five PL opponents at Anfield were only able to score once and generate 3.1 xGA between them.
Liverpool’s defenders are looking well rested after the international break:
- Alisson, Virgil Van Dijk, and Konstantinos Tsimikas played a full 90 minutes twice
- Andrew Robertson played 58 minutes
- Joe Gomez, Joel Matip, and Ibrahima Konate weren’t involved
- Trent Alexander-Arnold (TAA) ruled out with a thigh injury
The full-backs have been significant contributors, and TAA’s likely absence will be a blow. Gomez deputized for him against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup and is expected to continue here. He’s nowhere near as dangerous going forward but is stronger defensively, and I rate his chances keeping Emmanuel Dennis quiet.
Their opponent Watford have struggled offensively since Roy Hodgson took over. Previous managers Xisco and Claudio Ranieri managed 23 goals in 20 fixtures. The former Liverpool manager’s defensive tactics have yielded six goals in nine matches.
The Hornets have failed to find the back of the net in five of those games and only generated 8.3 xG. Away from home, they’ve been unable to score in four of their six matches and only generated 5.4 xG.
Hodgson has had two weeks to prepare his side for this match. I think all his training ground sessions will have been focused on defensive shape, and I can’t see them causing too many attacking problems at Anfield.
Back Liverpool to make it five PL clean sheets in a row.
Betting Tip: Liverpool To Keep a Clean Sheet -134
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Burnley vs. Manchester City (Saturday, 10 AM EST, Live on Peacock)
Manchester City could start this game in second place, two points behind Liverpool. One of their key strengths under Pep Guardiola has been handling pressure, and when the final whistle goes, they will be sitting top of the PL table once again.
The Citizens boast the best defensive record in the PL with 18 goals conceded all season and have managed six clean sheets in their last ten matches. Six of those games were away from home, and they limited their opponents to 4.5 xGA and kept four clean sheets.
Their opponent have failed to score in six of their last ten PL matches, managing just 7.1 xG. Looking at Burnley’s fixture schedule, they will have one eye on Wednesday’s relegation six-pointer with Everton. Sean Dyche knows the key to staying up is beating the sides around you, and they will focus their efforts on collecting three points against The Toffees.
Back City to shut Burnley out.
Betting Tip: Manchester City To Keep a Clean Sheet -143
Parlaying both of these plays comes to +197, which is excellent value. I reached out to the good people at PointsBet, and they decided to boost the price to +215, turning this into one of the best PL bets available this weekend.
Click THIS LINK to find it on PointsBet.
Pointsbet Parlay PRICE BOOOOOST!!!!!!!: Liverpool and Manchester City to both keep a clean sheet (Boosted from +197) +215
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