MATCH PREVIEW: Exeter V Liverpool

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Image via espnfc.com
Liverpool will make their best effort to show up at Exeter's St James' Park on Friday evening as manager Jurgen Klopp continues to try and find a functioning and fit starting XI. Since the league cup clash with Stoke on Tuesday the Reds have seen their players drop like flies with no fit centre backs resulting in Ilori called back from loan and most recently, news today filtered through that Jordon Ibe is the latest to succumb to the hamstring curse.

Injuries

 To go into detail, for the first time ever I will resort to a bullet pointed list for our injuries. The Reds are unable to call upon;

  • Jordon Ibe
  • Dejan Lovren
  • Kolo Toure
  • Philippe Coutinho
  • Martin Skrtel
  • Mamadou Sakho
  • Jordan Henderson
  • Divock Origi
  • Jordan Rossiter
  • Daniel Sturridge
  • Danny Ings
  • Joe Gomez
  • Jon Flanagan

Unbelievable. On the other hand Exeter are looking a lot healthier with David Wheeler being their main injury concern, the midfielder suffered an ankle injury recently. Doubts also hang over the fitness of Noble and Ribeiro.

 Previous Meetings

 The teams have met on just five occasions in history, four times in the league cup and once in the FA Cup. The most recent meeting of course was in 2011 when the Reds put three past Exeter in the league cup to go through to the third round. On the scoresheet for Liverpool that day were Andy Carroll, Maxi Rodriguez and Luis Suarez.

In the total five meetings between the two sides Exeter have only found the back of the net on two occasions whereas the Reds have managed to score 19 goals.

Form

 Exeter are currently 16th in League Two having lost four out of their last five in the league. Their victory over League One Port Vale in the last round of this competition though proved they have some goals in the tank.

Liverpool find themselves 8th in the league at present but the Reds have picked up just two wins in their last five against Premier League opposition. West Ham were the most recent side to get the better of Jurgen Klopp's team.

 Stat Sandwich

  • The last time the Reds were beaten by a League One side in the FA Cup was against Oldham in 2013.
  • The last time Exeter reached this stage of the competition they got a draw at Old Trafford.
  • It has now been a decade since Liverpool last lifted the FA Cup.

Your Predictions

 I asked you for your score predictions on Twitter and here are a couple of the tweets I received:

Despite the fact that the majority of our team is injured I still feel Liverpool should be strong enough to get a win tomorrow. Exeter are not exactly in any kind of form and if the Reds can't handle League One opposition, with or without key players, something is wrong.

Surely Klopp is going to play Benteke tomorrow? I'm still trying to guess what he's going to do in defence, perhaps Can will have to be pushed back and Ilori will feature? Who knows!

I will be having a bet on the game, keep your eyes on my Twitter and I'll let you know what I have. Please find below your betting overview with my favourite bookies; Paddy Power!

 Betting

Liverpool to win and both teams to score is at 2/1 with Paddy Power tomorrow. After the defensive woes I'm hoping we won't concede but at this rate it's worth preparing for.

I'm quite fond of a scorecast so will probably pop a quid on this tomorrow too:

Finally, Lallana is one of few players left who will be in the limelight tomorrow, if you fancy him to score two or more goals in the 90 minutes you can get odds of 14/1.

Enjoy the match folks, wherever you are watching!