Liverpool must be backed to win first half against Cardiff
Published:Fresh from exacting a 3-0 mauling on arch rivals Manchester United, Brendan Rodgers takes his goal-greedy Reds to floundering Cardiff and it’s difficult to see anything other than the Northern Irishman overseeing a third successive away win.
A straight up victory for Liverpool in south Wales is an accumulator-worthy 2/5, while a shock win for the Blue-ish-birds is understandably lengthy at 13/2 and the draw a 19/5 chance.
With Cardiff fighting for their Premier League existence an away win is not elementary, yet the prospect of a first title in 24 years is more than enough incentive from a Liverpool standpoint.
What is likely to win the contest for the Reds (aside from more scoring more goals) is their unrivalled ability to score freely in the first half of games, putting the contest beyond many opponents before they’ve had time to blink.
In fact, Liverpool have scored more times (48) in the opening half of Premier League matches than 16 of the other 19 teams have mustered all season in the top flight.
And even more ominously for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, is that their prolific visitors have registered more goals within the opening 25 minutes of games than Cardiff have managed all season.
Suddenly the 4/5 about Liverpool winning the first half takes on the distinct look of printable moolah, as does the 5/6 surrounding the Reds leading at both half time and the final whistle; as they did in a commanding 3-1 win at Anfield just before Christmas.
As if the news needed to get any grimmer for the division’s second-lowest scorers, Liverpool have also hit a defensive groove of late – going 180 minutes without being breached – adding attraction to the 31/20 on an away win to nil.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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