LIVERPOOL resume their quest towards what would be a historic quadruple when Villarreal visit Anfield in the Champions League semi-final stage on Wednesday night.
Jurgen Klopp's star-studded side strolled to six wins from six in the group stages before eliminating both Inter Milan and Benfica to reach the final-four.
The Reds will enter this first leg affair off the back of a hard-fought 2-0 win over Everton on Sunday, on an afternoon where I successfully backed the hosts to triumph without conceding.
The Merseysiders will now turn their attention back to conquering the continent when Champions League shock troops Villarreal come to town.
After emerging from a tricky group that featured Atalanta and Manchester United, Unai Emery's team have since demonstrated just how dangerous they can be in a knockout competition.
The Yellow Submarine have sunk Juventus and Bayern Munich to reach the semi-final stage but it will be fair to say that there will be a huge step up in class here.
Outright Betting
Despite failing to win their last two Champions League home matches, Liverpool head into this first leg as red-hot 5/18 (SBK) favourites.
Villarreal, who have avoided defeat in eight of their 10 Champions League outings this season so far, arrive at Anfield as big underdogs at 23/2 (SBK) while the draw is an unfancied 5/1 (SBK) with the same firm.
Betting Angles
You won't get rich backing Liverpool at the aforementioned odds, so I'll head to the Bet Builder market and merge Liverpool to win, under five match goals and over zero Villarreal cards at 5/6 with Bet 365.
Whilst Jurgen Klopp has an awesome array of attacking talent at his disposal, his side has been solid rather than spectacular in their surge towards an astonishing clean sweep of trophies, and that was evident against Everton on Sunday.
Not only have 20 of Liverpool's 24 Premier League victories this term featured four goals or fewer, each of their last five wins in this season's Champions League have gone under the 4.5 goal barrier.
Opposing outfit Villarreal, on the other hand, have proven to be a tough nut to crack under astute tactician Unai Emery's tutorship, and they should be able to keep this contest competitive.
As already alluded to, the La Liga outfit have lost just twice in 10 outings in this year's competition, both of which of featured three or more goals, all of which adds to the appeal of backing Liverpool to win in a game that generates under five match strikes
With Jurgen Klopp's team expected to dictate the tempo of the game, I'll round off the Bet Builder with a minimum of one Villarreal card.
The Spaniards have collected at least one caution in all but one of their 10 Champions League assignments this season and they could revert to the dark arts here in an attempt to tame the top-heavy hosts.
One player who is no stranger to the referees notebook is Villareal's Etienne Capoue who has been chalked up at 12/5 (William Hill) to have his name taken by match official Szymon Marciniak.
The combative midfielder has already clocked up eight cards across all competitions this season and he looks worthy of some interest to add to that tally on Wednesday night.
This UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool and Villarreal will be played on Apr 27, 2022 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Liverpool vs Villarreal prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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