Fulham vs Liverpool Betting Pick | English Premier

English Premier

2011-12-05 - Fulham vs Liverpool

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Fulham v Liverpool
Football: English Premier League
Monday 5 December 2011 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV

Fulham

Martin Jol must be glad the TV companies wanted to show his Fulham side live this week as it has given him an extra day to rest his squad following their heart-breaking loss in Holland in the Europa League last week. The Dutchman will now be hoping his side can push up the Premier League table as the teams at the bottom closed the gap a little over the weekend.

Fulham are 16th in the Premier League table, just 2 points better off than Blackburn Rovers who have been considered a struggling team for most of the season. It seems clear that the team will rely on their form at Craven Cottage to keep them in the League this year, as they have for the last few seasons, but they need to improve there. Fulham are 1-3-2 at Craven Cottage, scoring 11 goals but also conceding 9.

A 1-0 loss at Twente means Fulham have failed to win any of their last 4 games in all competitions and they have only scored 2 goals in those games. Fulham have lost back to back games at Craven Cottage in the League, both 1-3, since beating QPR 6-0 here. The team have kept just 1 clean sheet in their last 5 home games in the League, and they have scored in every game at Craven Cottage since the opening day draw with Aston Villa.

Bryan Ruiz is back for selection having been cup-tied in Europe. Damien Duff is likely going to be miss out, but Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey should both recover from knocks with the extra day off.

Liverpool

Liverpool are still very much in the hunt for a top 4 berth this season and have other positives in the form of a Carling Cup Semi Final to look forward to. The team will still be hoping to improve their form in front of their own fans, although they do have their away tactics down to where they want them.

The Reds are 7th in the Premier League table after the results over the weekend, but will be aware that they can move up to 6th with a win and possibly as high as 5th with a win by 3 or more goals. They are only 5 points behind Chelsea in 4th place so are more than in touch with their ambitions. Liverpool are 4-0-2 away from home this season, scoring 8 goals and conceding 6 and only the top 3 teams have won more away games in the League.

I expect the side to play with plenty of confidence that has been built up with an 11 game unbeaten run in all competitions. Interestingly, Liverpool have won their last 6 away games in all competitions since the 4-0 loss at Tottenham and they have scored at least 2 goals in each of those wins.

Lucas damaged his knee in the Carling Cup win over Chelsea and has been ruled out for the rest of the season. Jordan Henderson and Jay Spearing will be looking to replace the Brazilian, while Steven Gerrard remains sidelined.

Head to Head

Liverpool hammered Fulham 2-5 here in their last meeting in May. That is actually their 3rd win in 4 visits to notoriously difficult Craven Cottage, although they have suffered a 3-1 loss in that time.

There is yet to be a draw between these sides in 10 Premier League meetings at Craven Cottage.

Prediction

I think this will be a decent game to watch on Monday night and I can see a few goals being shared by the teams.

Fulham have been good for at least 1 goal in their home games this season, except the Aston Villa game on opening day, scoring against the likes of Tottenham and Manchester City. They are a team that will look to take the game to Liverpool and are not afraid of the bigger teams in the League.

Liverpool themselves have been much more free-scoring away from Anfield this season, scoring at least 2 goals in their last 6 away games. It should also be telling that they have only kept clean sheets in half of those games and only have 3 clean sheets from their last 8 games overall.

I will also add that the last two times they have met at Craven Cottage has seen the teams combine for at least 4 goals.

So I am expecting both sides to score, but instead I am going to look at the 'Over 2.5 Goals' here, because of the lack of draws between the sides in the Premier League era, particularly at Craven Cottage.

Neither team will be happy with a point so I can see both going for the three points until the final whistle is played. With goals likely to be on the menu for both sides, the odds against on the 'Over' looks a little too good to pass up.

The Statistics :

FULHAM LAST SIX HOME FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2011-11-06	L	1-3	H v Tottenham
	2011-10-23	L	1-3	H v Everton
	2011-10-02	W	6-0	H v QPR
	2011-09-18	D	2-2	H v Man_City
	2011-09-11	D	1-1	H v Blackburn
	2011-08-13	D	0-0	H v Aston_Villa

LIVERPOOL LAST SIX AWAY FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2011-11-20	W	1-2	A v Chelsea
	2011-10-29	W	0-2	A v WBA
	2011-10-01	W	0-2	A v Everton
	2011-09-18	L	4-0	A v Tottenham
	2011-09-10	L	1-0	A v Stoke_City
	2011-08-20	W	0-2	A v Arsenal

HEAD TO HEAD FULHAM v LIVERPOOL
DATE	HOME	SCORE	AWAY
2011-05-09	Fulham	2-5	Liverpool
2009-10-31	Fulham	3-1	Liverpool
2009-04-04	Fulham	0-1	Liverpool
2008-04-19	Fulham	0-2	Liverpool
2007-05-05	Fulham	1-0	Liverpool
2005-10-22	Fulham	2-0	Liverpool