Marseille v Liverpool Betting Tips
There will be plenty of punters who don't trust Liverpool at odds-on for a game like this one. After all, they have been hit and miss all season. The Reds were runaway Premier League winners during Arne Slot's first campaign in charge, although it's been a different story this time around. They spent plenty of money in the summer, although the new signings have not made the desired impact thus far.
Florian Wirtz is starting to improve and might end up being a star for the Merseyside club, although odds of 1.85 look skinny enough for a Liverpool win here. After all, this is a team who have only four of their eleven Premier League away clashes, with the side actually conceding more on the road than they have scored.
From an encouraging point-of-view, Liverpool have now gone ten games without suffering a defeat. Since that 4-1 home humiliation at the hands of PSV Eindhoven, there have been five wins and five draws along the way. A Champions League success at Inter was a huge boost and they've also claimed an EPL success at Tottenham along with a goalless draw at the Emirates.
However, Marseille will be out for a positive result and they managed to come from behind to defeat Newcastle recently. A double from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was able to help them to a much-needed Champions League success, with the French team then enjoying a 3-2 success away to Union Saint-Gilloise where the prolific Mason Greenwood was at the double.
Roberto de Zerbi's side could realistically still land a top-eight spot and perhaps they can avoid defeat here. Marseille and the Draw could be worth chancing on the Double Chance market, even if they did recently suffer a home defeat against Nantes which was mainly down to ill-discipline, leaving them with nine men in the end.
Goals Under/Over
Despite Liverpool tightening up defensively including that goalless draw at the Emirates, the Champions League betting sites are still leaning towards Over 2.5 Goals in the market. There's over 60% chance of three or more being scored according to the latest odds, with Marseille a team who are adept at finding the net at home.
The Ligue 1 team have notched twenty-four goals across their nine home matches and also scored twice against Newcastle. De Zerbi's team are attack-minded and they average nearly two per Champions League game. Their last group game involves a visit to Club Brugge where they will be favourites, so this is something of a free hit for them against an unconvincing LFC side.
The slight downside for the visitors is that Mohamed Salah may not have returned after AFCON and there's injury which has put paid to the majority of Alexander Isak's season. We think the low goal count is probably the value.
BTTS
The bookies have BTTS Yes around the 65% chance mark of happening. It's a bet we would have gladly taken at 1.57 earlier in the campaign. However, it's noticeable that Liverpool have tightened up from a defensive point-of-view in recent months. That said, they have been prone to lapses, most notably when drawing 3-3 at Leeds after being in a commanding position and then conceding a late equaliser against Fulham to draw 2-2.
It's feasible that this encounter could unfold in a similar way. However, there was a goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium and they also had a 0-0 against Leeds which more down to the Yorkshire side showing strong organisation and defensive capabilities.
Marseille have drawn a couple of home blanks in recent months. There was a 1-0 reverse against Atalanta and that came before a recent 2-0 defeat against Nantes. However, there's no doubt that they won't be set up to defend against Liverpool considering the joy that teams such as Leeds and Fulham have enjoyed against them.
Overall, we think the BTTS Yes option is valid although much depends on the approach undertaken by a Liverpool side who might not be too gung ho considering that the house of cards can often tumble if they concede a goal.
First Goalscorer
Mason Greenwood sits top of the Ligue 1 scorer charts and the former Manchester United man is clearly a dangerous operator. He has eleven goals domestically this term and a sum total of fifteen in all competitions. There was a recent brace at Union Saint-Gilloise, with the twenty-four-year-old having recently scored four in as many competitions.
Greenwood has the capacity to score goals in volume when notching a crazy four against Le Havre as part of a 6-2 success, although he also has a partner in crime. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has previously been a big hit at Arsenal and the Gabon forward might be back from AFCON duty to line up here and cause mischief.
Hugo Ekitike may well have recovered from a hamstring complaint to line up in this clash, with Cody Gakpo operating on the left-hand side. The emergence of Jeremie Frimpong could see the Dutchman prove to be the match winner here, although Florian Wirtz has an eye for goal and is starting to get into more attacking positions.