Liverpool v Zenit St Petersburg Tip

The never-ending nightmare that is predicting Liverpool matches rears its ugly head again on Thursday when much is at stake. If the Reds go out then the season looks effectively over and Brendan Rodgers will have a job on his hands convincing the fans that the club is moving forward.

Zenit arrive on Merseyside with a 2-0 lead to protect and that position of strength could be their biggest weakness. The most relevant form guide for the Russians is how they fared away from home in the Champions League group stages. Well, they beat Milan at the San Siro, but that was a meaningless match with the final standings already decided.

When it mattered, Zenit results weren’t up to scratch. They lost 1-0 in Anderlecht, the group whipping boys, and they opened with a 3-0 defeat in Malaga. That is essentially the target result for Liverpool tonight and I think they can achieve it at best odds of 14/1 with BetVictor.

The Reds have undeniably had their slip-ups this season but recent results at Anfiled have been predominantly good. The WBA loss aside, the other four most recent fixtures have ended 5-0, 5-0, 3-0 and 4-0 in favour of the hosts. Indeed, in the last outing against Swansea, the Merseysiders fired a season-high 33 shots on goal of which 18 found the target. Even Michael Laudrup admitted the scoreline could have been even more emphatic.

Zenit will obviously be better than the Swans were that day, but Anfield remains famed for these big European evenings. We can also be more confident of a score prediction because of the balance of the tie. If the Reds do get to 3-0 up, a 3-2 advantage overall, they will be determined to defend the lead as an away goal would be devastating. At long odds, it feels like decent value is assured, at the very least.