Liverpool FC, essentially the champions of the summer transfer window, will begin their 2018-19 Premier League campaign at home against West Ham United. This will be our first chance to see if their blockbuster transfer business will pay dividends or not.
Yes, they spent £179 million to improve their team, but last season there was a 25 point gap between the Reds and league champions Manchester City. You can see why Reds boss Jurgen Klopp compared his side to Rocky and City to Ivan Drago from classic sports film “Rocky IV.”
Let’s take a look at the injury report and team news for both sides. For the Reds, Joel Matip is a doubt, due to a thigh issue. Ragnar Klavan is out, because of a hamstring problem while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is ruled out for pretty much the entire season. Dejan Lovren is out due to his post World Cup holiday.
For the Hammers, Andriy Yarmolenko is a doubt (hip issue), while Edimilson Fernandes (knock), Andy Carroll (ankle), Winston Reid (knee) and Manuel Lanzini are all unavailable, due to injuries.
The Sports Bank’s Liverpool FC Starting XI Prediction
LW – Sadio Mane CF- Roberto Firmino RW- Mohamed Salah
MF – Naby Keita MF- Fabinho MF- Georginio Wijnaldum
LB- Andrew Robertson CB – Virgil van Dijk CB – Joe Gomez RB- Trent Alexander-Arnold
GK- Alisson
Liverpool FC Season Preview: go to this link
Liverpool FC Summer Transfer Window Analysis, Grade: go to this link
The weekly Jurgen Klopp manager press conference video from yesterday is embedded below:
Odds via Betway: Liverpool FC 1/4, Draw 11/2, West Ham 12/1
Prediction: Liverpool FC 2, Hammers 0
Feel free to post your own Reds and/or Hammers starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud and YouTube. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to any and all of his.