Will Sheffield be defeated at Anfield?

Since Sunday, Liverpool Football Club are once again top of the Premier League table. Thanks to their two-point lead over chasing Arsenal, the Reds are currently the only team with the English championship in their own hands. However, there is still a long way to go until then, with nine matchdays left on the program. The easiest task on paper awaits Klopp’s team on Thursday evening. The visitors to Anfield Road will be the bottom-placed team

In the run-up to the Liverpool v Sheffield United game, the bet on a home win therefore seems to be a mere formality. Logically, this is also supported by the fact that the Steel Cities have by far the weakest defense in the English top flight and have recently conceded a massive number of goals. Among others, they suffered heavy defeats against Arsenal and Brighton. Strictly speaking, the only question is how much Mo Salah and Co. will win their home game against the Blades?

The same was thought in the first leg, however, in which the Reds struggled more than expected and ultimately only a last-minute goal from Szoboszlai secured a 2-0 win. Because the odds between Liverpool and Sheffield United are heavily in favor of the home team, it is difficult to identify value quotes anyway. A little creativity is therefore required when placing your bets. You can find an extensive range of special bets at Interwetten, for example, where you can also immediately benefit from a 100 euro bonus on your first deposit after successful registration.

Liverpool – Statistics & current form

Last Sunday could not have gone much better for Liverpool FC. First, the Reds won their home game against Brighton 2-1 after trailing 1-0 to secure an immensely important three points. Jürgen Klopp and his charges were then delighted with the goalless draw in the top-of-the-table match between Manchester City and Arsenal, which took them back to the top of the table.

This place in the sun must now be defended during the week. The chances are very good, because anything other than a successful Liverpool vs Sheffield United prediction on the home side winning would be a big surprise. The league leaders from the city of the Beatles have been particularly impressive against newcomers in the recent past. They have only lost one of their last 39 PL home games against promoted teams (32-6-1). Since that defeat to Fulham in March 2021, the Reds have always come out on top in the last eight such matches, scoring 28 goals, an average of more than three per game.

Liverpool often need a lot of time to get going in the Premier League

Apart from this, there are other empirical arguments in favor of LFC. For example, the 2019 Champions League winners have only lost one of their last 20 PL home games in April (13-6-0). It should also be mentioned, especially for statistics freaks, that the late kick-off time of 20:30 seems to be an advantage for Liverpool. Klopp’s team have won all of their last eight PL evening games. An atmospheric crowd at Anfield, a floodlit atmosphere and a distinct quality advantage for the home team create the conditions for a great evening of soccer with plenty of goals.

However, it would not be the first time this season that the “Scousers” only converted their superiority into goals as the game progressed. In fact, the goals scored are anything but evenly distributed between the two halves. 23 goals were scored before the break, while a whopping 44 were scored after the break. Seventh place in the table for the first half is a far cry from first place after the break. In fact, only three of the last 15 goals were scored in the first 45 minutes. Reason enough to look at the odds for a higher-scoring second half between Liverpool and Sheffield United on Thursday evening.

Predicted Liverpool line-up:

Sheffield United – Statistics & current form

You can kind of feel sorry for the Blades. Having started with great anticipation, the newly promoted side were never able to prove their suitability for the first division for several weeks this season. Although the team of coach Chris Wilder, who took up the post at the start of December and is now in his second spell in charge, has shown signs of being a dangerous opponent from time to time, the bottom line is that they have hardly scored anything.

The Steel Cities are currently on a measly 15 points and sit bottom of the Premier League table. However, their chances of staying up are not yet hopeless, as their direct rivals rarely score and other clubs such as Everton and Nottingham have already been punished with points deductions. A small run of success would therefore be enough to give them new hope

Sheffield just can’t get a grip on the defense

A first helpful starting point would be to stabilize their own defence. 77 goals conceded after 29 matchdays. Only once before have the Blades conceded more goals in the English top flight. Almost 50 years ago, they conceded 82 goals – albeit after 42 (!) matchdays.

The work against the ball is therefore undoubtedly the biggest shortcoming of Wilder’s team, who have had to fish the ball out of the net 17 times in their last five league games. Keeper Grbic has had to make at least two saves in nine of the last eleven PL matches. Heavy defeats against Arsenal (0:6), Brighton (0:5) and Aston Villa (0:5) complete the worrying picture.

At least it should be noted that the bottom team is currently in a slightly better phase again. They have picked up a solid four points from their last three PL away games. They drew 3-3 at home to Fulham at the weekend and 2-2 at Bournemouth before the international break. In both cases, the Red, White and Blacks were even ahead at times. Their confidence has been boosted by these decent results, so we believe that the crass underdogs will score a goal on Thursday evening. That’s exactly why the odds of 2.37 between Liverpool and Sheffield United for the prediction of an LFC home win including a goal against find a place in our top tip table

Predicted Sheffield United line-up:

Liverpool – Sheffield United head-to-head / H2H record

Liverpool v Sheffield United is a real classic in the top flight of English soccer. This is the 114th time that the traditional clubs have faced each other in a direct duel. Liverpool clearly have the edge with 55 wins. The Reds have also won all of their last six meetings. In fact, the Blades have lost ten of their last twelve away trips to Anfield Road, with their last win coming in 1994…

The first leg, meanwhile, ended 2-0 to LFC, who took the lead through Virgil van Dijk in the first half, then missed numerous chances and had to wait until the closing stages before Dominik Szoboszlai made the difference. Speaking of Szoboszlai: The ex-Leipzig native will face Germany in Group A at EURO 2024 in June with the Hungarian national team

Liverpool – Sheffield United betting tip

In terms of the table, we are facing the pairing of the currently best English soccer club against the worst first division team. Liverpool will host Sheffield United and are logically the heavy favorites according to the betting odds. Quotes of a maximum of 1.10 on a home win have a rather symbolic character with an estimated probability of 90%. (Almost) nobody believes in a sensational coup for the underdogs, who are already seven points off the safety margin.

We are also of the opinion that LFC will not let anything burn in front of a home crowd, under floodlights and with the lead in the table to defend. However, since all the odds on the Reds’ (high) success do not include any value, we are using a different statistic as the basis for our preferred bet. Only around a third of all PL goals have been scored by Klopp’s team before the break. The championship contenders would only be in seventh place if all matches had ended after 45 minutes. It is therefore quite possible that the hosts will also need some time to get going on Thursday evening

We therefore recommend betting on more goals being scored after the break than in the first 45 minutes between Liverpool and Sheffield United. A proud 1.95 can be dusted off for this at Interwetten. We choose five units as the stake and also argue that the Blades’ top priority will be to go as long as possible without conceding a goal. It remains to be seen whether they will succeed in doing so, because the bottom line is that we still believe Mohamed Salah and Co. will secure a commanding home win. Incidentally, the Egyptian has set himself the personal goal of scoring against a promoted team for the first time this season…