Liverpool vs Fulham Preview with Best Tips and Bets for Premier League game

Posted Saturday, December 14, 2024 by givemesport.com

Liverpool are clear favourites to extend their tremendous home form when they host Fulham at Anfield on Saturday.

Arne Slot's side sit proudly at the top of the Premier League table and their terrific run of results in front of the increasingly excited Anfield faithful, including their recent 2-0 win over Manchester City, has played a large part in that.

Other than their shock 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest back in August, Liverpool have a 100 percent record at home, recording wins in all of their other six home outings.

Their impressive consistency at Anfield – where they haven’t always dominated matches, but have generally come out on top – is one of several reasons we’re expecting Liverpool to triumph this weekend.

As well as being dominant at home, Liverpool are in excellent form generally: they’re W4-D1-L0 from their last five Premier League matches home and away, and W8-D2-L0 from their last 10. Given their form, it’s impossible to make a strong case to oppose the Reds this weekend.

Led by manager Marco Silva, Fulham – who head into the weekend in a creditable 10th spot in the Premier League table – are deservedly the underdogs, although their away form has been solid: they’re W2-D3-L2 on the road, their only defeats coming against Manchester rivals City (3-2 in October) and United (1-0 on the opening day of the season).

At a best-priced 1.33 (1/3) to collect all three points, Liverpool will be too short for most bettors. Fulham are 9.50 (17/2) to secure a shock win, while The Draw is 6.00 (5/1). These prices look about right to us, so we recommend looking at other markets for the game instead.

Winning Margin Offers Opportunities

Liverpool vs Fulham Preview with Best Tips and Bets for Premier League game

One of the clearest trends when surveying Liverpool’s home form this season is that their wins tend to be narrow (by their high standards) rather than emphatic. Five of their six wins have been by a margin of one or two goals, those matches being 2-0 victories vs Brentford, Aston Villa, and Manchester City, and 2-1 victories vs Chelsea and Brighton. The exception to this ‘one or two goal margin of victory’ pattern was the Reds' slightly more emphatic 3-0 win over Bournemouth on September 21.

Fulham’s form suggests they can limit Liverpool to a narrow win. On the road, Fulham have avoided defeat five times, and on the two occasions they have lost, they did so by the smallest of margins: they lost 1-0 against Manchester United at Old Trafford, and 3-2 against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

Of course, the additional factor facing the visitors this weekend is that Fulham will have to try to contain the side that’s unequivocally the division’s best right now. Against anyone else, Silva’s visitors may be quietly confident of ensuring a tight contest, or even coming away with points. Liverpool are playing such an effective brand of football at the moment, however, that the hosts have to be considered an outlier.

After a tough 1-0 midweek Champions League win at Girona, though, and with arguably more challenging fixtures looming in the next month – Liverpool face Tottenham on December 22, and arch-rivals Manchester United on January 5 – manager Slot may rotate here, or at least settle for any type of win rather than demanding that his players blow away the opposition.

Taking all factors into account, Winning Margin looks like the smart way to support the hosts. Liverpool to win by 1 Goal and Liverpool to win by 2 Goals are available at best prices of 4.00 (3/1) and 4.33 (10/3) respectively. By splitting your stakes across these two outcomes, you will make a profit as long as one of these outcomes occurs.

Those stats again: five of Liverpool’s six home wins and both of Fulham’s away defeats have been by a margin of one or two goals. So if, like us, you expect Liverpool to win, this would be the way to play.

Those looking for evidence of a player to back in the Anytime Goalscorer market should be aware that there are no obvious trends among the Fulham squad.

The Cottagers have scored eight times in seven away league games this season – and, remarkably, eight different players have got on the scoresheet. Tom Cairney, Emile Smith Rowe, Harry Wilson, Alex Iwobi, Andreas Pereira, Rodrigo Muniz, Raul Jimenez and Adama Traore are the players in question.