STAR PREVIEW Thurs: Lincoln City v Liverpool

A jam packed beginning to the football season has seen a many top sides make changes in the Carabao Cup and the same can be expected when Liverpool visit Lincoln tonight.

Lincoln City v Liverpool
Carabao Cup Third Round
19:45 Sky Sports Football / Sky Sports Main Event / Sky Sports Ultra HD

HEAD TO HEAD RECORD
(Maximum 10 matches, since 2010)
First meeting between sides

The Premier League title holders won’t have this competition at the top of their priority list although Liverpool’s assistant coach Pep Lijnders has hinted that we could see a stronger side than normal taking to the field. That would not be a complete surprise given the lack of minutes many stars have had this season – we saw this with Manchester United starting Donny van de Beek on Tuesday whilst Chelsea’s Kai Havertz scored a hat-trick in a 6-0 rout of Barnsley last night whilst Thiago Silva also made his first appearance too.

A lack of depth at centre-back could lead to Fabinho starting whilst we should expect to see Neco Williams and new singing Kostas Tsimikas in a back four ahead of Adrian. Midfield should be the key area of strength – against MK Dons Klopp started James Milner, Naby Keita, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the centre of the park and we could well see Milner and Keita again, perhaps with Curtis Jones. Upfront, it looks certain that for the Takumi Minamino will be part of the front three, perhaps with Harvey Elliott and the possibility of new signing Diogo Jota making his debut.

That would be a more than reasonable team although Lincoln City should be respected; They started their League Cup journey with a 2-1 win at Crewe Alexandra and then put five past Bradford in the second round, whilst Michael Appelton’s side are unbeaten in their five fixtures this season, scoring 12 goals and conceding just three.

We can expect a reasonably strong side to take to the field here, with a dilemma for the hosts to start either Tom Hopper or Callum Morton upfront, whilst Liam Bridcutt, Harry Anderson and Joe Walsh are also pushing for starts as well for an in form side. We do have some rough form to go on when it comes to Lincoln – they gave it a good go against Everton last season when losing 4-2 – but it’s fair to expect Liverpool to have too much in reserve. A speculative wager on Liverpool winning 3-0 and 3-1 is recommended.

RECOMMENDED BETS (scale of 1-100 points)
BACK Lincoln 0-3 Liverpool 1 pt at 11/2 with
BACK Lincoln 1-3 Liverpool 1 pt at 9/1 with

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