Liverpool v Sparta Prague

Liverpool vs Sparta Prague Preview

Liverpool hold a seemingly unassailable 5-1 lead over their Czech Republic visitors Sparta Prague ahead of this return leg at Anfield as The Reds look to out this 2nd leg tie to bed and thrust themselves into the hat for the quarter-finals of this competition on the back of a creditable point in a 1-1 draw at home with Manchester City on the weekend, while Sparta Prague suffered another heavy defeat in the domestic Czech Liga on the weekend, losing 4-0 away from home at Viktoria Plzen.

Liverpool also bring a very decent and impressive looking eight-match unbeaten sequence into this Europa League 2nd leg tie which includes picking up seven wins in the process while goals have also featured prominently with four of these seven wins also producing four goals or more.

The bigger picture shows Liverpool have suffered just the single defeat out of their last 20 matches in all competitions which came in the form of a 3-1 defeat away from home at Arsenal but again, goals were prominent even in defeat! Six of Liverpool's last 10 matches overall have also resulted in Over 3.5 goals and as we saw in the 1st leg at the epet ARENA in Prague, Jurgen Klopp's side are no strangers to hitting the back of the net.

Sparta Prague look to be on a hiding to nothing when they make their way to merseyside for what looks like being a foregone conclusion in the favour of their Premier League hosts especially considering the Czech Republic outfit suffered a heavy 5-1 loss on home soil in the 1st leg.

Throw in the fact that Sparta Prague were then subjected to a comprehensive 4-0 rout away from home at the hands of Viktoria Plzen in the domestic Czech Liga on the weekend and you can see that the visitors have shipped a total of nine goals in their last two games which certainly does not bode well for this upcoming visit to Anfield on Thursday night.

However, prior to these two recent heavy defeats, Sparta Prague had actually put together a decent string of results which saw the visitors lose just once across 18 games in all competitions, which came in the shape of a 3-2 loss away at Turkish outfit Galatasaray in the previous round.

Sparta Prague repaid the favour by recording a 4-1 thrashing of Galatasaray in the return leg in Prague but it looks like Brian Priske's side have come to the end of the road in this competition.

Liverpool v Sparta Prague Verdict

Liverpool must be considered to be among the favourites to lift this season's Europa League trophy and The Reds are expected to assert their authority once more at Anfield on Thursday night.

Therefore, our main bet will be Over 3.5 goals @ 2.00

Other side bets worth considering:

Liverpool win & Over 3.5 goals @ 2.37

Correct Score: Liverpool 3-1 @ 10.00