LIVERPOOL are top of the tree at Christmas and they will be looking to cement their place at the summit of the standings when they welcome West Brom to Anfield on Sunday.
Remaining on their perch will not be easy but the Reds will be difficult to reel in as they bid to successfully defend their Premier League crown.
Jurgen Klopp's star-studded side made a significant statement of intent with a 7-0 savaging of Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park last Saturday.
Next up for the reigning champions is a Merseyside meeting with relegation-threatened West Brom.
The Baggies occupy a place in the basement zone, however, survival specialist Sam Allardyce has been called in to succeed Slavan Bilic, who was the first Premier League managerial casualty of the season.
Big Sam endured a baptism of fire upon his return to the dugout last Sunday as 10-man Albion were swatted aside by Aston Villa, and Allardyce perhaps now faces his biggest challenge to date in steering the Baggies to safety.
Outright Betting
Liverpool have avoided defeat in each of their last 65 Premier League fixtures at Anfield and the Reds are red-hot favourites on Sunday at 1/9 with Bet 365.
West Brom are unbeaten in their last two trips to Anfield but the Baggies are big outsiders here at 22/1 with PaddyPower, while a point apiece is an unfancied 9/1 with Bet 365.
Betting Angles
The bookmakers prices for this match unsurprisingly suggest that this will be a one-sided affair and as such punters will have to dig deep to try and come up with some value.
I'm therefore going to head to the Bet Builder market and combine Liverpool half time/full time, under four second-half goals and under five match cards, a 20/23 shot at Bet 365.
Liverpool led at the interval in 15 of their 19 home matches last season and the half time/full time play has copped in four of their seven Anfield assignments this term so far.
Klopp will be keen to see his side put this game to bed early as the frantic festive schedule begins to bite and I fancy Liverpool to do exactly that when faced with the leakiest defence in the Premier League.
However, this will more than likely be a matter of damage limitation for Allardyce and Co so I will add in under four second-half strikes to the recommended Bet Builder to boost up the price.
I'll also include under five match cards on account of Liverpool's squeaky clean disciplinary record coupled with the fact referee Kevin Friend has flashed fewer than five cards in eight of the last nine Premier League matches that he has taken charge of.
That line of thought could also see value lie with the 5/4 match combo special on offer with 888Sport for Liverpool to win, Liverpool to take the most corners and West Brom to receive the most cards.
History shows that this is the type of assignment that the rampant Reds are particularly efficient in dealing with and with Liverpool expected to dominate the ball for long stages at Anfield the above-mentioned combination looks like a nice way of trying to squeeze some value out of a home success.
This English Premier League match between Liverpool and West Brom will be played on Dec 27, 2020 and kick off at 16:30. Check below for our tipsters best Liverpool vs West Brom prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
