I have no doubt that Liverpool will progress through the two legs and feel that they will probably win tonight. My only concern is that Rafael Benitez may settle for the draw, as he did in the previous meeting in Eindhoven, earlier in the competition.
The English side are in much the better form and will be buoyed by their "revenge" hammering of Arsenal at the weekend.
PSV will be without several key players, including the team's talisman, Alex. They seem half a side when he doesn't start and were left shellshocked by the recent 5-1 home defeat to big rivals, Ajax, a result which blew the title race, wide open.
I listened to an interview with a well respected Dutch journalist last night, where he said that he could 100% guarantee that PSV's primary target for the season is the league. This sounds strange, but he argued that qualification, especially for the group stage, was more important than to do well in the actual competition. He added that if any players were 50/50, they would be saved for league fixtures. Once again an example of money talking.
In the early stages of the home leg with Arsenal, the team from Eindhoven were torn apart by the Gunners and were lucky to advance. Benitez should take this on board and want to, if not finish the tie tonight, at least make the return leg more of a formality. Biggest problem he will have is whether to drop "classic" hat trick scorer Peter Crouch to the bench. That is something I learnt yesterday, a "classic hat-trick" , is one each with the head, left and right foot and they are very rare.
Do not see the visitors losing, it could be a draw, but feel that if they go for it, Liverpool will win, under the circumstances the asian line looks good.
4 points Liverpool -1/4 ball 2.04 asian line. result won 3-0 + 4.16 pts
Good Luck.
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