Liverpool are sitting pretty at the top of both the Premier League and Champions League as they get set for a European encounter with French side Lille on Tuesday (3pm ET, DAZN).
The Reds are now a best-price of -400 with betting sites to win the Premier League after last weekend’s results, which saw them beat Brentford 2-0 and closest rivals Arsenal drop points at home to Aston Villa.
Arne Slot’s men are also top of the UCL market on soccer betting sites at +400 to win a seventh European Cup after a fantastic start to their Champions League, recording six wins out of six.
They are top of the table in the new-look league format and almost guaranteed to automatically qualify for the round of 16.
Only the top eight teams go straight through to the last 16, avoiding an extra play-off round, and Lille are well-placed to follow Liverpool through.
They enter round seven of this season’s competition in eighth, one point clear of Borussia Dortmund in ninth, after back-to-back wins against Sturm Graz and Bologna.
Les Dogues are massive underdogs to make it three wins on the bounce at Anfield, but it would be unwise for Liverpool to overlook a side that’s already beaten both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid this season.
Lille head to Merseyside on a remarkable club record 21-match unbeaten run in all competitions.
Bruno Genesio’s men haven’t tasted defeat since losing their first Champions League game of the season to Sporting on September 17. Since then they’ve beaten Real and Atletico, while drawing with Juventus.
The bedrock of their success has been a solid defense, with highly-rated French goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier playing behind a well-organized defensive unit
They have been a little more vulnerable in the Champions League, but still only conceded once from open play in those meetings with Real, Atletico and Juve.
They’ll need to be very tight at the back on Tuesday against a Liverpool side that’s notched up an incredible 60 efforts on goal across their last two Premier League games.
The Reds are creating plenty of chances, but only have three goals to show for all those efforts in the meetings with Nottingham Forest and Brentford.
And it’s taken a while to make the breakthrough too with Darwin Nunez opening the scoring in the 91st minute against the Bees last time out.
Slow starts have been pretty common for Liverpool this season and were the Premier League table based on first half results alone, the Reds would be fifth.
In the Champions League, the scores have been level at the interval in each of their last three games.
Slot is expected to shuffle his pack for Tuesday’s matches after a busy run of games and it may take a while for Liverpool to get going.
A draw would be a good result for Lille, who face Feyenoord at home in the final round of the league format, and we’re drawn to the odds on tie/Lille in the double chance market for the first half at +114 on Pinnacle.
It’s difficult to back Lille with much confidence on betting apps to hold out for the entire game, but recent trends suggest they may keep it tight for 45 minutes.
Liverpool vs Lille Pick 1: Lille or tie double chance 1st half (+114 Pinnacle)
Liverpool’s strength in depth in the forward areas is really starting to pay dividends with both Nunez and Diogo Jota coming on as replacements to score in the Reds’ last two games.
While Mohamed Salah has done most of the damage in front of goal, others like Nunez, Jota, Luis Diaz and Gakpo have all chipped in with crucial goals.
Gakpo’s price on established and new betting sites catches the eye ahead of this game with the Dutchman +163 to score his 13th of the season and third UCL goal.
His underlying numbers in the Champions League place him just behind Salah’s as Liverpool most dangerous forward and he’s scored in each of the Reds’ last two home games in this competition.
Liverpool vs Lille Pick 2: Cody Gakpo to score anytime (+163 Bet365)