Last week, punters and sports fans around the land dashed home to their televisions or the pub to see the return of Champions League Football. Cracking matches involving British teams against Europe's elite made for scintillating watching, but this week's mid-week matches in the Carabao Cup lack the same substance.
The draw for this round was made at 4.15am in the morning British time in South-East Asia and it's fare to say, the fanfare surrounding this competition fails to reach love held for the Champions League. However, our man Danny Archer, fresh from landing an even money winner last week, has analysed tonight's big game, Leicester City vs Liverpool, live on Sky Sports Football and has also found a few other value bets for all the action...
Leicester City vs Liverpool
Leicester - 14/5
Draw - 14/5
Liverpool - 19/20
(All odds with Unibet - get your first bet of £30 risk free)
Leicester - This looks a fascinating match up and the tie of the third round. Leicester City could be without star striker Jamie Vardy who suffered a groin injury at Huddersfield, whilst Robert Huth, Matty James and Christian Fuchs are all doubts. It's been an interesting start to the season for the 2015/16 Premier League Champions who were desperately poor at Huddersfield on Saturday. Craig Shakespeare's men did very well to come away with a point against the Terriers thanks to a second half penalty from top scorer Vardy.
With changes made to the squad such as Danny Drinkwater leaving the club, Leicester have been slow to get going this year. They played well for stages during their 2-0 loss to Manchester United in Gameweek 3 and against Chelsea in a 2-1 loss at the King Power in Gameweek 4 of the Premier League season. However, one solitary 2-0 win against Brighton in August leaves the Foxes with 4 points from 5 games in the League. A facile 4-1 win against Sheffield United in the second round of these competition sets up a tie with Liverpool and this cup could prove a welcome change for Shakespeare and his men. Leicester have a decent rotation squad which includes the pacey Ahmed Musa and powerful striker Islam Slimani, whilst the talented Demarai Gray deserves more chances despite contract problems. At home, they should cause Jurgen Klopp's side plenty of problems and you would be disappointed if there isn't goals in this game.
Liverpool - It's been an interesting start to the season for the Reds who played out a thrilling 3-3 draw with Watford on the opening day of the Premier League season before beating Crystal Palace (1-0) and then Arsenal (4-0) at Anfield in successive games. However, Saido Mane's sending off at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City was the death knell of their chances in that game which they went on to lose 5-0. A disappointing 1-1 draw with Burnley in front of the Kop on Saturday has drawn sharp criticism from Liverpool fans and Klopp will be hoping his side can reinvigorate themselves for what should be a cracking encounter tonight.
£35 million signing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain looks set to make his first start for the Reds and there could also be starts for Daniel Sturridge and Andrew Robertson. The worrying issue for Liverpool however is their continued ability to leak goals and plenty of them. Whilst they look a real menace going forward, Klopp's side always look likely to concede and they have shipped 14 goals in 7 competitive matches so far this year. Another factor to take into account is the club's involvement in this season's Champions League. A 6-3 aggregate win over Hoffenheim in the play-off round guaranteed a berth in the Group stages, with Liverpool drawing 2-2 at home to Sevilla last Wednesday. Of course, the focus of the 2016 finalists in this competition is going to be Europe and rightly so and Klopp will not want this competition to risk further injury to his already small squad.
Archer's Verdict - Both Teams To Score looks likely.
Both sides are attack minded and boast powerful strike-forces. With that in mind Both Teams To Score at 3/5 with Unibet looks a safe assumption. I also think over 2.5 goals is value at 7/10, whilst Liverpool to win in 90 minutes at 19/20 is also of interest.
Selections
Both Teams To Score - 3/5 Unibet
Over 2.5 goals - 7/10 Unibet
Liverpool to win - 19/20 Unibet
Tonight's other action...
I'm also quite keen on a short-priced win treble tonight.
West Ham (1/4 vs Bolton), Wolverhampton Wanderers (4/9 vs Bristol Rovers) and Crystal Palace (10/11) vs Huddersfield Town) all to win.
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