Sparta Prague vs Liverpool prediction, odds and betting tips
Liverpool will resume their Europa League campaign against Sparta Prague this Thursday.
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Find the latest match odds for Sparta Prague vs Liverpool. All odds are provided by our best-reviewed football betting sites. Odds are subject to change.
- Liverpool to win - 20/23 with Paddy Power
- Both teams to score - 8/13 with Paddy Power
- Darwin Nunez to score any time - 7/4 with Paddy Power
Liverpool must be beginning to believe something is brewing at Anfield.
Last week was quite the triumphant one for Jurgen Klopp’s side. First, despite a long list of first-team absentees including Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Darwin Nunez, Dominic Szoboszlai and Alisson Becker, Liverpool beat Chelsea in the final of the EFL Cup.
A few days later, a second-string side cruised to a 3-0 victory over Southampton to send the Reds through to the last eight of the FA Cup.
Finally, on Saturday afternoon, Nunez headed home the only goal of the game against Nottingham Forest in the ninth minute of second-half stoppage time.
That ensured Liverpool remain at the summit of the standings ahead of this weekend’s crunch clash with Manchester City, the defending champions and the favourites in the title race.
Klopp could yet win a quadruple in his final season as Liverpool manager. One trophy is in the bag already, leaving three more to fight for.
The question is: would Klopp sacrifice the FA Cup and Europa League if that would guarantee another Premier League winner’s medal? The answer, almost certainly, would be yes.
Of course, there are no such guarantees available. But the business end of the season is fast approaching and Klopp will soon find himself with some difficult decisions to make.
The first of which concerns Thursday’s game. Should the Liverpool head coach name his strongest possible side against Sparta Prague? Or should he give a rest to the players that need it in a bid to protect them ahead of Sunday’s titanic tussle with Manchester City?
In other words: how seriously is Klopp prepared to take the Europa League now that his team are locked in a three-way tussle for the title?
Sparta Prague are in excellent form domestically, but denying Liverpool victory will be difficult.
Sparta Prague finished second in Group C of the Europa League, a point ahead of Real Betis. That was a fine achievement. They then beat Galatasaray over two legs to reach the last 16.
Sparta are also going strong domestically. They sit at the summit of the standings in the Czech First League and have already qualified for the six-team Championship group that will ultimately determine the title winner.
Even so, Sparta are huge underdogs in this tie. With the second leg at Anfield, they probably need a big win on Thursday to stand a chance of advancing to the quarter-finals.
Klopp’s team will by no means have everything their own way at the epet ARENA. But even a Liverpool side that is not quite at full strength should ultimately have too much quality for Sparta.
Provided they can quieten the crowd early on, the Reds are capable of leaving the Czech capital with a first-leg advantage.
Caoimhin Keller and Conor Bradley have done fine jobs of deputising for Alisson and Alexander-Arnold respectively.
With Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate all fit, Liverpool’s back four is almost at its strongest. Purely in a defensive sense, Bradley might already be Alexander-Arnold’s equal.
Yet Sparta know that they probably need to triumph on Thursday to have any chance of going through, so Liverpool’s defence will have plenty to deal with in the first leg.
Sparta are averaging 2.5 goals per European home game this term. They have also scored in 17 consecutive fixtures in all competitions.
Meanwhile, the Reds conceded in all three of their Europa League group games before Christmas. Goals at both ends is a distinct possibility in this one.
There is no guarantee that Nunez will start on Thursday. Given he was only recently sidelined with an injury that saw him miss the EFL Cup final, Klopp might prefer to rest the Uruguay international.
On the other hand, Nunez getting an hour or so under his belt could be useful if Klopp intends to play him for 90 minutes against Manchester City.
The Uruguay international featured for half an hour against Nottingham Forest and is clearly building back up to full fitness.
Moreover, with Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah set to miss out, Klopp is short of options up front. He could use Jayden Danns, the 18-year-old local lad, as part of the front three, but Nunez looks like the more probable option.
For all that he is not the most reliable finisher, Nunez makes Liverpool a better team.
Anyway, his numbers are far from terrible: the former Benfica man is averaging a goal every 150 minutes in the Premier League, a better record than the likes of Jarrod Bowen and Dominic Solanke, and only marginally inferior to Ollie Watkins and Son Heung-min.
- Location: epet ARENA, Prague, Czech Republic.
- Date and time: Thursday 7 March 2024, 5.45pm.
- How to watch: TNT Sports 1.
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