On Sunday Liverpool face Burnley at Anfield which could be a huge test for them as they bid to earn a place in next seasons Champions League.

As we all know this season Liverpool have been exceptional against the better teams in the league, however against the ones nearer the foot of the table they tend to struggle. The previous fixture this season, which was originally meant to be played at Anfield but got switched to Turf Moor as Anfield was getting the final touches of it’s redevelopment done, finished 2-0 to Burnley which had brought Liverpool back down to earth after their dream start to the season after an impressive away win at Arsenal.

There are a few injury worries for the reds ahead of the game at Anfield though with Roberto Firmino being doubtful with a thigh injury, however Divock Origi is ready to step up and fill in for Firmino. Dejan Lovren should be back for this game however it isn’t clear whether Jurgen Klopp will draft him back into the starting line-up after Ragnar Klavan impressed against Arsenal last weekend. Two players who are definetly ruled out of the game though are Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson. Both players are yet again struggling with injuries and it is worrying for Liverpool fans with Henderson especially being a key players for us so far this season.

Liverpool will be determined to finish this game early on, I expect Klopp will get them fired up in the dressing room as he will want the reds to play with high intensity from the first minute of the game to the last. After the Leicester game I would be surprised if Liverpool treat these games as though they are a guaranteed win and if they do fail to win this game I can already see the outrage within the fanbase, and rightly so because we should be easily beating teams like Burnley (no disrespect to them). However, if Liverpool do not finish the game early on the lads will need to keep their heads because if they start panicking and rushing passes, shots, etc then that will play into Burnley’s hands which is something that we do not want to do as we know that they re going to come to Anfield and sit deep all game.

Another factor in the game will be the crowd at Anfield. When the crowd at Anfield gets going, it is one of the best sights in the world. However, the fans need to make sure that the atmosphere within the stadium is good because we have seen it plenty of time this season where the reds play better because of the atmosphere being good. If you look at the atmosphere at home to Arsenal last week it helped to get the players over the line and they will need more of that on Sunday. All you have to do is look back to the home game against Swansea City though. The atmosphere at that game was non existent and f it is like that again the players may not feel the push that the Anfield crowd can give them to get over the line and deliver the three points.

Liverpool’s form lately has been average despite that win against Arsenal last time out, with them seemingly being able to beat the bigger clubs with wins against Tottenham as well as Arsenal, however they have also had two defeats against struggling Leicester City and Hull City. With Burnley being another one of those struggling teams in remains to be seen if they can get back on track and start to beat the struggling teams. Liverpool’s home form has been good lately, with them winning their last two home games and drawing the one before that against Chelsea as well.

Burnley on the other hand, only have one point away from home all season so it wouldn’t be a good look for Liverpool if on Sunday they made it either 2 or 4 points away from Turf Moor this season. Burnley’s form in the last 5 games has also been average (considering their league position), however they did snatch a point from Chelsea. Their last two away games have resulted in them getting a 1-1 draw at Hull City and also they had a last gasp 3-2 defeat to Swansea City.

Out of the Burnley line-up, the two players who I see as a threat to us are a striker and a defender. The striker who carries a threat is Andre Gray. Gray has been good for Burnley this season scoring 8 times in 21 appearances, despite being banned for a part of the season for tweets he sent a few years ago. The defender that I see as a threat for Burnely is Micheal Keane. Keane is a threat from set pieces and they tend to be our weakness so we will have to make sure that we have the aerial advantage over him in the games so that he cannot be a threat.

Matchday Stats 🔍

Question-:Do you think we will beat Burnley?

Via @RobboLFCx