It’s the second leg of the League cup with Liverpool 2-1 up from the tie at Anfield. Liverpool fielded a very understrength team in the first leg, and were behind for most of the game. Fulham fielded as strong a team as they could, and I expect no less here too.
This is a Fulham side that beat Arsenal on New Year’s Eve, knocked Rotherham out of the FA Cup and only lost 1-0 away thanks to a Chelsea penalty in the derby. With home advantage, having played well in the first leg, and given Liverpool don’t even need to win to advance (a draw would do them), I can’t be getting involved with a strong odds-on price for the visitors. Don’t forget, it took two goals in the final 5 minutes in December for a full-strength Liverpool team at Anfield to come from behind against Fulham, so I can’t stand the outright price. I’d much rather have two results running for me, and to have the home win or the draw is above even money at almost every UK bookmaker.
As for goals - both teams should score – but that 6/10 (1.6) is short on its own.
There can be value in the goals though – as I’m expecting a few so I’m going to the anytime goalscorer markets.
With most bookmakers, there are SIX Liverpool players rated as more likely to score than Fulham’s leading threat Raúl Jiménez, so at 3.5 (or 5/2 in fractional) I’ll happily take a chance on the Mexican. William Hill have an odd (but interesting) market here. 30 of Jiménez's 45 Premier League goals have been scored with his right foot. A right-footed Jiménez goal is available with Hills at 19/5. At the same bookmaker, he’s 11/5 – that’s 3.2 – to have more than 1 shot on target.
However you play this, good luck, but please gamble responsibly.
So I think Liverpool will get to the final, but I don’t think they’ll win this second leg at the price. You’ll get about 4 in decimal, 3/1 in fractional for the draw here, and I wouldn’t put you off that. The draw with both teams to score – which only rules out the 0-0 – would give you almost an extra point of value on that price.
Other than that, Raúl Jiménez is a big price in the scorers market, and there are some interesting ways of getting involved with him if you look at some of the more complex markets.
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