Liverpool vs Leeds United

Liverpool and Leeds United are set to face each other in a must-win Premier League encounter at Anfield, albeit the reasons are quite different.

Out-of-sorts Liverpool followed up a frustrating 1-0 league loss to newcomers Nottingham Forest with an overwhelming 3-0 Champions League win at Ajax in midweek to seal their progression into the knockouts with a game to spare. However, last season’s Premier League runners-up are already five points off the top-four race in the midst of the club’s worst top-flight start since 2014/15. Despite experiencing his worst Premier League start since taking charge of Liverpool seven years ago, Jurgen Klopp can draw confidence from his side’s astounding 29-game undefeated Premier League streak at Anfield (W22, D7). The ‘Reds’ must be enthusiastic about the prospects of making it 30 in a row, considering they’ve not lost any of their last ten Premier League games against Leeds (W7, D3).

Unless Jesse Marsch finds a way to dig his underperforming Leeds United side out of a wasteful four-match losing Premier League streak, the visitors could be staring down the barrel of another embarrassing weekend. However, last season’s 6-1 demolition at Anfield looms over Leeds’ heads, knowing their four league defeats preceding this road trip came at the hands of sides ranked worse than Liverpool. On top of that, after losing four consecutive Premier League away matches in the build-up to this clash, the ‘Whites’ could suffer 5+ top-flight defeats on the spin for the first time since 2003. Unfortunately for under-pressure Marsch, it’s hard to see Leeds walking away from Anfield with points on the back of a dreadful eight-game winless league run (D2, L6), the longest ongoing such streak in the competition.