Reds travel to Macedonia for first leg of Europa League clash – Roy Hodgson set to give Danny Wilson and Milan Jovanovic their debuts
Bet365 are live streaming the Liverpool live game from 19:45 this evening at bet365 > live streaming
Liverpool FC reached the semi-finals of the Europa League last season, losing to eventual winners Atletico Madrid, and they are among the favourites (12/1 Coral) to win the competition this season. Indeed, with Roy Hodgson having steered Fulham to the final last term, many people are tipping him to go one better with the Merseyside club.
However, Hodgson has admitted that he’s in a “lose lose” situation as far as the Europa League is concerned. Although they should have few problems beating FK Rabotnički to qualify for the first round proper, it will be interesting to see the selection policy as Liverpool bid to return to the Champions League.
Pool are no bigger than 3/10 (Paddy Power) to win in Macedonia against a team who finished second in their national league last season. The Railway Boys had two hotly-contested games against Mika in the previous round and won 1-0 on aggregate, which means that the players now have the biggest games of their careers.
Liverpool FC will be missing most of their household names, with Fernando Torres, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson missing the trip. However, if you think that young Merseyside outfit can still prove too strong for the opposition, you can get odds of 10/11 (Paddy Power) that Liverpool lead at half-time and full-time, while a 3-0 victory in their favour is on offer at 7/1 (Ladbrokes).
Perhaps Hodgson will decide to hand a competitive debut to Milan Jovanovic, especially as he will almost certainly have to field some young players, considering that Torres, Pepe Reina and Dirk Kuyt are only just returning from World Cup duty. The Serbian forward is 9/2 (bet365) to break the deadlock in Macedonia.
David Ngog is 9/2 (Boylesports) to score the first or last goal, although Hodgson is trying to understand the club’s priorities. If the objective is to finish in the Champions League at all costs, then it might be worth looking at a low-scoring encounter, with bet365 offering 10/11 that there are Under 2.5 Goals.