Liverpool vs Stoke Preview: Team News, Lineups, And Prediction

Klopp’s men managed to grab a point in their last premier league fixture against Tottenham. They did a fantastic job in their European conquest on Thursday night where Liverpool was able to score the precious away goal against their manager’s ex-side Borussia Dortmund. Origi opened the scoring for the Reds after an amazing counter attacking run by the team and Dortmund was caught napping which costs them to give away an important goal. Mats Hummels equalized the game in 48^th minute and the game was settled.

On Sunday, Liverpool will be entertaining Mark Hughes’s side Stoke side who are currently 2 points ahead of Liverpool. Hughes’s side are currently having an exceptional season as they are witnessing some amazing performances from their star players like Bojan, Shaqiri, and Arnautovic. But, In the recent weeks, Stoke have managed to win their games very narrowly and that left the question that, will the side can keep the hold of to their 2 points lead ?

In their last fixture of the league, Liverpool managed a very marginal win against the Potters. Liverpool have bee very inconsistent this season even under Klopp. Yes, they have been comparatively better but, the manager will need time to turn the Merseyside club back into a real force.

It will be a tough battle between the sides where both the sides will be looking to increase their lead over the other.

 

Liverpool vs Stoke Team News-

For Liverpool, Jordan Henderson will be out as he suffered a concussion in his last match against Dortmund. And on the other hand, Danny Ings and Lucas are the long-term absentees.

For Stoke, Ryan Shawcross, and Shaqiri may return to the side in the next game but, Steve Sidwell, Jonathan Walters, Glen Johnson, and Mark Wilson are all out of the games due to their respective injuries.

 

Lineups-

Stoke City-

 

Jakob Haugaard

Erik Pieters,  Geoff Cameron,  Phil Bardsley,  Philipp Wollscheid

Ibrahim Afellay,  Giannelli Imbula,  Charlie Adams,

Arnautovic, Bojan, Shaqiri

 

Liverpool-

Mignolet

Clyne, Sakho, Lovren, Moreno

Can, Milner

Lallana, Firmino, Coutinho

Origi

 

Key Stats-

Liverpool have won four of their last five Barclays Premier League meetings against Stoke, with the other match being a 6-1 loss on the final day of last season.

Stoke’s 1-0 win against Liverpool in the League Cup semi-final second leg in January ended a run of 36 matches without winning at Anfield (D5 L31). They went out of the competition on penalties that night.

Daniel Sturridge has scored three times and assisted three goals in six BPL appearances against Stoke.

Against no side has Jonathan Walters scored more top-flight goals than Liverpool (five).

 

Predictions-

Both the sides cannot be separated after seeing their recent forms. Klopp’s men have something to cherish as they have that away goal advantage and will be looking forward in the league to get ahead to Stoke. But, Stoke are not the easy side to beat as they have shown this time and time again but the teams’ form suggests Liverpool may have an advantage in this fixture.

 

3-1 Liverpool