liverpool leicester
>Manchester City’s surprise 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United has handed Liverpool an unexpected opportunity to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to seven-points, when they host Leicester City at Anfield. Read on for the latest news and free football tips.

After their first defeat of the league season, a 2-1 loss at Manchester City, Liverpool have bounced back with two hard fought victories to stay in charge of the title race. They first went to Brighton and ground out a 1-0 win thanks to a Mo Salah penalty, before winning an extraordinary game against Crystal Palace at home.

Having trailed 1-0 at half-time, the Reds were in front early in the second-half, only to be pegged back to 2-2 with 25 minutes left. Salah scored his second of the game to give the league leaders the advantage again, before Sadio Mane looked to have wrapped up the points with an injury time goal to extend the lead to 4-2. However, Palace would score again in the dying seconds to set nerves jangling.

It was another important test of their title credentials, but one Liverpool came through with maximum points again.

Their visitors, Leicester, arrive off the back of two successive defeats, which has left them sitting in tenth-place. After losing 2-1 at home against a resurgent Southampton, the Foxes were involved in their own 4-3 thriller against Wolves, but they came out of it on the wrong side of the result. They trailed 2-0 at half-time, but they were level after just six minutes of the second half.

Wolves would regain the lead with 30 minutes left, but Leicester would equalise again with just three minutes remaining. However, Wolves would grab the winner deep into added time to secure all three-points.         

Team news – Liverpool      

Manager, Jurgen Klopp, received a massive boost ahead of the visit of Leicester City, with influential defender, Virgil van Dijk, declaring himself fit to play, despite picking up an illness during a training camp in Dubai.

Joe Gomez, and long-term injury, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, are definitely ruled out, whilst Trent Alexander-Arnold’s knee injury is also set to keep him side lined. James Milner starts his suspension for a red card against Crystal Palace, which could see Alberto Moreno come in to cover.  

The rest of the team is likely to remain unchanged with Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Naby Keita in midfield, supporting the usual front three of Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino, and Sadio Mane.

Team news – Leicester City

Other than the absence of Daniel Amartey, Foxes manager, Claude Puel, has a full squad to choose from. He will surely stick with his usual back four of Danny Simpson, Wes Morgan, Harry Maguire, and Ben Chilwell, sitting in front of goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel. With Wilfred Ndidi, Nampalys Mendy and Ricardo Pereira protecting the defence, Leicester could be a tough nut to crack.  

Jamie Vardy, who enjoys scoring against Liverpool, will again lead the line, supported from midfield by Demarai Gray and James Maddison.   

Head to head

Wednesday’s game will be the 112th meeting between the two sides, who first met in a League Division Two tie on 9 November 1895, when Leicester City were known as Leicester Fosse. That game finished in a 3-1 success for Liverpool, but Leicester Fosse would win the return fixture 2-0, just three weeks later.

There would then be a nine year gap before the teams met again, in the 1904-05 season, Liverpool winning both fixtures, 4-0 and 3-0.

The teams would then meet intermittently as Leicester yo-yoed between the top divisions. Their first Premier League meeting happened at Filbert Street on Boxing Day, 1994, with Liverpool coming away 2-0 winners. In fact, the Reds won the first three Premier League encounters, but Leicester would then go on a seven game unbeaten run against Liverpool between 1996 – 2000.

Liverpool have won the last three meetings between the clubs, including earlier this season when winning 2-1 at the King Power Stadium thanks to early goals from Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.

The head to head record stands at 48 wins for Liverpool, 39 wins for Leicester, and 24 draws.   

Prediction and betting tips

It won’t be an easy evening for Liverpool, but they know they can take a huge step towards the title with victory at Anfield. We do see the home side prevailing and there could be some interesting in-play betting to take advantage of as the action unfolds. Van Dijk declaring himself fit is a big boost and he can deal with the threat of Jamie Vardy, to leave Liverpool’s front three to win the game.

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