ANOTHER tough Wednesday coupon in the Capital One Cup. Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79) shares his thoughts.
Liverpool v Carlisle | Wednesday 20:00
One’s mind can’t help wandering back to Liverpool’s meeting with Northampton at this stage of the competition in 2010. The Premier League side lost that night and it marked the beginning of the end for Roy Hodgson. What happened to him anyway?
Defeat here to Carlisle could push Brendan Rodgers to the exit door and it’s no surprise to hear whispers that he’ll be fielding a relatively strong side for this encounter.
The problem for Liverpool though is that they’re not scoring goals. Only Newcastle have scored fewer in the Premier League this season and headline summer recruit Christian Benteke has found it difficult to look as fluent as he did at Aston Villa.
Carlisle have hit a rich seam of form in recent weeks in League Two. Keith Curle’s men are unbeaten in five and won three of those matches. They sit tenth in League 2 at the moment and are top scorers in the division.
Since news of Liverpool’s team leaked early on Wednesday their price has been smashed in and their now best price 2/11 to triumph at Anfield. The Cumbrians can now be backed at 20/1 with a couple of firms. Gosh.
Anfield looked edgy and uneasy on Sunday as Alex Neil’s Norwich held Liverpool to a draw. Rodgers must be very nervous about this game and if an early goal isn’t captured things could get nasty.
I’m going to have a wee poke on Carlisle scoring a goal here. They’ve scored and conceded in all 10 of their matches this season and it’s sure to be one of the great days of their players careers hanging out at Anfield. I think they’ll have a go here and notch at 11/10 with Coral.
Walsall v Chelsea | Wednesday 19:45
Same bet for me here. I’m backing Walsall to score. The price isn’t really amazing to be honest at 7/10 but I think it’s worth an interest.
The Saddlers have had an excellent start to the season having lost just one game of their ten match campaign. They’ve scored in nine of those games and have knocked out Championship sides Nottingham Forest and Brighton from this competition.
The atmosphere at the Bescot Stadium should be bubbling on Wednesday night and hopefully the players can rise to the occasion against England’s champions.
As we all know it’s not been a great start to the season for Chelsea. Saturday’s win over Arsenal was their first domestic clean sheet of the season and there should be a new backline in operation here.
Chelsea won this competition last season but conceded in four of their six matches. This included against the likes of Shrewsbury, Derby and Bolton so with this in mind Walsall could do some damage.
Best Bets
Liverpool v Carlisle – Over 0.5 Carlisle Goals (11/10 Coral)
Walsall v Chelsea – Over 0.5 Walsall Goals (7/10 Betway)
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TOPICS English Football Tips Football Football League Tips Premier League Tips
