Liverpool meets Sunderland on Anfield at 15:00 UK time on August 13th 2011, for the start of the new Premier League season 2011-12.
Liverpool
Liverpool improved their performance greatly last season since Kenny Dalglish took the manager spot. The team made a very successful transfer, selling Fernando Torres for £50m to Chelsea, and in the same time bought Andy Carrol and Luis Suarez, two players that really changed Liverpool’s face. Further more, the team bought this summer, Charlie Adam from Blackpool for £6.5m, Stewart Downing from Aston Villa for £18m and Jordan Henderson from Sunderland for £16m. Alexander Doni was also taken from Roma as a free transfer. From the six friendly games that Liverpool played this summer, the team won 3 of those, including the most recent one against Valencia, lost two to Hull City with 0:3 and Galatasaray again with 0:3, and a draw against Valerenga, a club from Norway. This year, Liverpool will not participate in any European tournament, which will ease their schedule and let them focus on Premier League.
Sunderland
Sunderland finished 10th last season, but the team’s performance really dropped after the selling of Darren Bent to Aston Villa for £18m. During the summer, Sunderland also sold Jordan Henderson as mentioned above for £16m. The team bought a few players as well like Craig Gardner from Birmingham for £6m, John O’Shea from Manchester United for £4.5m, youngster Connor Wickham from Ipswich for £8m, Ji Dong-Won for £2m and Ahmed Elmohamady who was on a loan already last season in Sunderland and the team decided to keep him, by paying £2m. Sunderland played 8 friendly games during the summer, winning only 3 of those, lost 2 and drew 3.
Prediction
Since the creation of the Premier League, Sunderland has never beaten Liverpool on Anfield. The team have played here a total of 10 games since 1996, 5 victories for ‘Pool and 5 draws:
25/09/2010 Premier League Liverpool vs. Sunderland 2:2
28/03/2010 Premier League Liverpool vs. Sunderland 3:0
03/03/2009 Premier League Liverpool vs. Sunderland 2:0
02/02/2008 Premier League Liverpool vs. Sunderland 3:0
20/08/2005 Premier League Liverpool vs. Sunderland 1:0
17/11/2002 Premier League Liverpool vs. Sunderland 0:0
25/11/2001 Premier League Liverpool vs. Sunderland 1:0
23/09/2000 Premier League Liverpool vs. Sunderland 1:1
11/03/2000 Premier League Liverpool vs. Sunderland 1:1
24/08/1996 Premier League Liverpool vs. Sunderland 0:0
Despite the many draws, including the most recent game here, Liverpool has built a very good squad, and will most likely attack the top spots from Round 1. Sunderland has been priced as the “dog” here , odds as high as 7.00 in (bet365).
Your value bet here would be the draw as 50% of the games on Anfield have ended draw and the price on that bet is 3.80 (bet365).
However this game could be as well your banker, as I think Liverpool has really the potential to easily win. Odds @ 1.53 seem good enough, but be careful, Round 1 always hides unpleasant surprises.
My prediction, Liverpool to win the game.
Recommended Bet:
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Liverpool to win @ 1.53 | Visit Bet365 Now |
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