Prediction: Liverpool vs Ajax

Verdict: Both teams to score

Best odds: 12/25

Bookmaker: Unibet

Liverpool are set to welcome Ajax to Anfield on Tuesday evening in a match that will be a part of the second round in Group A of this season’s Champions League campaign, after the two teams played two very different games in the opening round last week.

Liverpool

The Merseysiders traveled to Naples last week and endured what has been described as the worst 45 minutes of football they’ve played since the appointment of Jurgen Klopp as the manager back in October 2015. They were 3-0 down at the break, with Piotr Zielinski, Andre Zambo Anguissa and Giovanni Simeone on target for Napoli as the Serie A side continuously broke through their defensive ranks and threatened Alisson Becker. The Brazilian goalkeeper actually saved his team further embarrassment by stopping Victor Osimhen from the spot. In the second half, Napoli scored their fourth (Zielinski again) straight away, before Liverpool finally responded through their only good player on the night – Luis Diaz.

The defeat to Napoli certainly came as no surprise, given the Reds’ remarkably poor form since the start of the season. Of the six matches in the Premier League so far, they won just twice, and one of those was an extremely close call as Fabio Carvalho scored for 2-1 at home against Newcastle, and the other was a 9-0 thrashing of Bournemouth, who have so far shown arguably the least in the English top flight. Meanwhile, Liverpool failed to beat Fulham away (2-2), Crystal Palace at home (1-1), Manchester United away (2-1), and Everton away (0-0).

Liverpool’s match against Wolverhampton Wanderers that was supposed to take place at Anfield on Saturday was postponed, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last week.

With nine points from six games, Klopp’s team sit in seventh place in the Premier League table at the moment.

Team News

Liverpool are missing Naby Keita in the middle of the park, as well as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, with the nature of their respective injuries such that both have been left out of the list of players registered to play in the group stages of the competition. Captain Jordan Henderson should be back in October, which obviously means he won’t be facing Ajax on Tuesday.

At the back, they’re missing centre-back Ibrahima Konate whose knee injury is also set to keep him out for a while, as well as left-back Andy Robertson who felt some kind of a problem after the Napoli game.

Being back from injury, it’s expected Joel Matip will start now ahead of Joe Gomez and form a centre-back partnership with Virgil van Dijk. Thiago Alcantara is also back and nailed-on to start, given all the injury woes in the middle of the park.

Klopp will now have a choice to make in attack, with all five players of the section at his disposal. There is little doubt about Mohamed Salah being on the right and Luis Diaz on the left, but through the middle, it could be Roberto Firmino, Darwin Nunez or Diogo Jota.

Ajax

Things could not have gone more differently for Ajax since the start of the season. The Dutch champions have won all their matches so far, beating Fortuna Sittard away by 2-3, Groningen at home by 6-1, Sparta in Rotterdam by 0-1, Utrecht away by 0-2, and Cambuur at home by 4-0, before opening their Champions League campaign by thrashing Rangers 4-0 as well in Amsterdam. Edson Alvarez, Steven Berghuis and Mohammed Kudus settled the contest in the first half, and it was returnee Steven Bergwijn who put the icing on the cake with 10 minutes left on the clock.

A few days ago, Ajax completed the successful run so far with a 5-0 home win over Heerenveen.

Naturally, such a run can hardly result in anything other than Alfred Schreuder’s team topping the Eredivisie table with a maximum of 18 points from six matches, though it should be said that Feyenoord are just two points behind.

Ajax are known in recent years (or decades, even) as a club that creates players, helping them grow at the biggest stage before sending them on to Europe’s biggest clubs, usually for very large sums. This summer, winger Antony and centre-back Lisandro Martinez joined former boss Erik ten Hag at Manchester United for a total of more than €150 million. Midfielder Ryan Gravenberch joined Bayern Munich for slightly less than €20m, striker Sebastien Haller went to Borussia Dortmund for just over €30m, while fullback Noussair Mazraoui followed Gravenberch to Munich as a free agent.

Steven Bergwijn returned from Tottenham Hotspur, Lucas Ocampos came in from Sevilla, defender Calvin Bassey arrived from Rangers, and defensive midfielder Florian Grillitsch came in as a free agent after his contract with Hoffenheim expired.

The point is, Ajax are still a compact and formidable team, despite making so many changes since the end of last season.

Team News

Ajax come to Anfield led as always by captain Dusan Tadic, who has significant experience against English clubs having spent four years at Southampton. The same goes for midfielder Davy Klaasen, who played two years for Everton and will see the Anfield trip as special motivation to deliver a blow to the Merseysiders in the name of their rivals from across Stanley Park. And while Tadic played for Southampton, Daley Blind was at Old Trafford as a Manchester United player, so if old rivalries are anything to go by, the veteran defender has more reasons than anyone to put in a good performance.

Meanwhile, Schreuder could be without Bassey who picked up a slight knock against Heerenveen, though the 22-year-old hasn’t been ruled out completely yet. Left-back Owen Wijndal will, however, miss out most likely, with this clash coming too soon as he recovers from an ankle injury.

Conclusion

To say that this match will be an interesting one would be a huge understatement, given everything we’ve seen from these teams recently, but also down the last couple of years. Liverpool play at Anfield, and their home ground is legendary for the support the team gets when it needs it most. And let’s face it, they need it badly at the moment. Also, their team is overall more experienced, and arguably of higher quality.

On the other hand, the Merseysiders are obviously in a crisis right now, and if there was ever a time for an opponent to come to Anfield brimming with confidence, it’s now. Klopp spoke at length about the need for his team to show a reaction after the Naples fiasco, but if they fail to improve significantly on what they displayed there, Ajax could emerge with another comprehensive victory. On the other hand, if Liverpool do snap out of the stupor and start playing like they know how from the first whistle, Ajax will likely return to Amsterdam beaten for the first time this season. The bookies mostly see the home side as strong favourites, but that’s far from guaranteed.

In any case, the visitors will be coming to win. There will be no bus parking here. There should be chances at both ends, and plenty of goals.

Verdict: Both teams to score

Best odds: 12/25

Bookmaker: Unibet