Europa League: This is Not the Time to Go to Anfield

Liverpool vs Union Saint-Gilloise

In the players’ tunnel at Liverpool’s famous old football ground, there is a sign which reads: “This is Anfield”, as if opposition players needed any reminder.

In the club’s heyday of the 1970s and 1980s, Anfield was a place to be feared where visiting teams came and left as quickly as they could, usually with no points. The Kop makes an intimidating noise, the players wear a striking blood red kit, and then they go for you.

Now you might say that to arrive at Liverpool’s ground is less daunting than in days gone past, but when Union Saint-Gilloise arrive for a Europa League clash on Thursday, they are unlikely to experience a friendly welcome.

In fact, it could be quite hostile as they arrive at a time when Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is fuming after his team was robbed by a VAR mess-up during defeat to fellow Premier League pacesetters Tottenham Hotspur.     

According to the latest Europa League 2023 betting odds, Liverpool are the red-hot favourites to win the tournament at a price of 3.45, with Bayer Leverkusen and AS Roma in pursuit at 10.00.

And Alexander Blessin has the task of leading Union into the cauldron at Anfield. His team is currently sitting top of the Belgian First Division, but he will be under no illusions that his next challenge will be the toughest of the season so far.

Talking Points

Jones and Jota set to play

One outcome of Liverpool’s nightmare afternoon at Tottenham is that the two red carded players, Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota, will both feature on Thursday before they take an enforced break.

Jones has impressed in midfield at the start of the campaign, and the club may even contest his red card decision, while Jota is a proven creator and goal scorer. Both will have fire in their belly, and the Belgian opponents may suffer for that.         

Klopp is likely to rest star striker Mohamed Salah, as well as the injured Cody Gakpo, and that means the spotlight will fall on Darwin Nunez as he leads the attack. He was an unused substitute at Tottenham, and Nunez will be keen to show that his progress this season is set to continue.

Elsewhere in the lineup, Trent Alexander-Arnold will start again at right wing-back, while Ibrahima Konate looks set to replace Virgil van Dijk at centre-back with the skipper’s armband going to Trent.   

With players of this quality, the Reds would prefer to be in the Champions League of course, but Europa glory is a decent consolation, and Liverpool will go all out to prove they are the best in this company.   

Union are at home in Europa  

Liverpool will not make the mistake of underestimating their opponents on Thursday.

For many years, they were the dominant club in Belgium, winning 10 titles in the first three decades of the 20^th century.

And recently, Union Saint-Gilloise have become a big player again because they’re on top of their league, and they had a good run in the 2022/23 Europa League, reaching the quarter-final before going out to Bayer Leverkusen.      

Union are in a two-way fight to join Liverpool in getting out of Group E, priced at 12.00 to win the group alongside Toulouse. And they picked up a point in their opener as Mohamed Amoura climbed off the bench to give them a 1-1 draw at home to the French side.

There may be an appearance for the brother of Liverpool star Alexis Mac Allister, Kevin, who plays for Union, while Blessin will make a late call on striker Dennis Aynesa, who picked up an injury two weeks ago and is in a race to be fit. 

The Union coach knows he needs to pick up Europa League 2023 results to keep his club’s momentum moving, but he has a mountain to climb on Merseyside.

History

Liverpool have won the Champions League six times, the Premier League title 20 times, and have won the Europa League in its current format, and the UEFA Cup three times.

The visitors are 11 times Belgium top-flight winners and nine-time runners-up, most recently in 2022.

And in terms of recent form, Union Saint-Gilloise have won three of the last six games and are unbeaten in four, while Liverpool won their five games before the loss to Spurs on Saturday.

Betting Tip

Liverpool are at SBOTOP odds of 1.18 to win this game with the draw at 5.99 and Union Saint-Gilloise are at 7.96, so we expect nothing less than a home win.

And I think we may see a backlash from the suffering at Spurs and so, for an alternative bet, over 3.50 goals is at 2.00 and 3-0 to Liverpool is at odds of 6.56.

 

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