Stoke City vs Liverpool Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

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Joel Amorim Aug 07, 2015 @ 02:24 am

Next Sunday, 9th of August 2015, the five-time European champions Liverpool will travel to Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, to measure forces with Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium for Round 1 of the English Premier League.

The last time Liverpool visited the Britannia Stadium things didn’t work well for The Reds, who were heavily hammered by 6-1. In fact, during the last two clashes between both sides at Staffordshire a total surprising amount of 14 goals was scored.

Liverpool were far from their best last term and finished 6th on the EPL table, 25 points behind the new English champions, Chelsea. It was a quite modest achievement for Brendan Rodgers’ men and it is mandatory for them to improve this season.

The Reds did good in their pre-season matches and, although they have not faced any top rank opponent, they managed to complete their preparation period without a single defeat. Liverpool have once again spent big this summer and such fact has undoubtedly created some legitimate expectations in their demanding supporters for the new season.

For his trip to Staffordshire, Brendan Rodgers will not be able to rely on the contribution of Joe Allen, Daniel Sturridge and Jon Flanagan, all currently sidelined due to injury.

As for Stoke City, they will start the new season against the opponent they have completely “smashed” in the closing match of the previous campaign.

Mark Hughes’ men finished last season in the 9th place, with 54 points from 38 matches, and this term they will certainly try to at least replicate what they did last year.

Ibrahim Afellay and Marco van Ginkel, who arrived at Britannia Stadium this summer, will most certainly be of good use to the Welsh manager.

During their last pre-season match against the two-time European champions FC Porto, the Potters did not manage to withstand the Portuguese team attacking avalanche and ended up defeated by 3-0. Mark Hughes’ men failed to win any of their last three preparation matches, something that might indicate that the Welsh manager still has plenty to do before the team’s engine starts to run properly.

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