On Wednesday, we have our second ‘Battle of Britain’ in a week as Liverpool travels to face Rangers in the Champions League. Liverpool won the first game 2-0 at Anfield but now they’re at Ibrox, which is so often a fortress.
Napoli leads Group A and the Reds have to leave Scotland with three points to keep their hopes of winning the group alive. Will Jurgen Klopp’s team get the win they need or will Rangers pull off a famous victory? Don’t miss our Rangers vs. Liverpool betting picks and predictions.
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Rangers vs Liverpool odds
Rangers vs Liverpool picks and predictions
We have a huge game on Wednesday in the Champions League. We’re just over halfway through the group stages and Group A is finely balanced. The Rangers sit at the bottom of the table and need a miracle to reach the knockout stages, Dutch club Ajax are third with three points, Liverpool are second with six points, and Napoli are three points better off with nine and topping the group.
The Champions League adventure is likely over for Rangers but for Liverpool, there are still stories to be written. However, they need to catch up with Napoli if they want to top the group.
Neither domestic season has gone to plan, with Rangers trailing arch-rivals Celtic in the league and Liverpool sitting midtable in the Premier League. For the first time in years, there are questions asked of manager Jurgen Klopp and debates over whether it’s the end of his cycle at the club. It’s too early to say that but the injury crisis around the club isn’t helping what is already a nightmare situation for Liverpool.
There’s a host of injuries throughout the team which has left those remaining fit looking disjointed. Due to injuries in his midfield, we’re likely to see Klopp deploy four attackers in this game with Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Darwin Nunez, and Diogo Jota all in the running to start.
In what’s been a terrible season for Liverpool, it could be argued that only Roberto Firmino is improving his stock. It looked like the Brazilian’s best days were behind him but the 31-year-old has had a renaissance and found the sort of goalscoring form that we haven’t seen in a long while.
Firmino has found the net six times in seven Premier League games, and although he hasn’t scored in his three Champions League appearances — only one of which was a start — he offers a great price to score on Wednesday. Firmino’s been particularly good at finding pockets of space and his finishing looks better than in recent memory.
Rangers might be good defensively at the domestic level but nobody in Scotland compares with Liverpool, a team who are far more dynamic and dangerous than anybody they usually play. Liverpool will win this game but the odds aren’t good enough to bet, so instead back a goalscorer that offers the best combination of probability and price.
My best bet: Roberto Firmino to score (+162 at bet365)
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Rangers vs Liverpool side analysis
A lot has been said about Liverpool’s struggles and it really does feel like this could be an extended period of change for the club. Liverpool haven’t looked like themselves at all this year, sitting midtable in the Premier League with just two wins, along with four draws and two losses. They’ve scored 20 goals but it’s worth remembering that nine of those were in one game. They’ve also conceded 12. Nine teams have allowed fewer than that — which should concern Klopp.
Despite those concerns when these two teams met last week, Liverpool won 2-0 and with relative ease. They had 23 shots to the Rangers’ six, five times as many shots on target, and 64% possession. A victory was never in doubt for Liverpool in that game and I think we’re looking at similar here.
Ibrox is a brilliant stadium and the atmosphere will be impressive but the gulf in class between the top teams in England and Scotland is just so vast that I can’t see Rangers causing Liverpool any issues and we should see Klopp’s men pick up another three points.
Rangers vs Liverpool Over/Under analysis
With odds of -200 for Over 2.5 goals, it’s clear that the bookies are expecting a lot of goals and you can understand why. At the domestic level, we’ve seen plenty of high-scoring Liverpool games with 75% of their Premier League games going Over 2.5.
Rangers aren’t shy of being in high-scoring games either with 88.9% of their matches this season seeing Over 2.5 goals too.
Last week’s game between the two clubs was the first time that Liverpool haven’t had Over 2.5 goals in this Champions League group, with games of 2-1 and 4-1 before that. Rangers were also in the same boat, having lost 3-0 to Napoli and 4-0 to Ajax in the opening week. In fact, Liverpool have scored at least two goals in 13 of their last 16 games in Europe and we should see the Over smashed again here — although odds of -200 don’t make it a worthwhile betting proposition.
Rangers vs Liverpool game info
| Location: | Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland |
| Date: | Wednesday, October 12, 2022 |
| Time: | 3:00 p.m. ET |
| TV: | DAZN |
Rangers vs Liverpool key injuries
Rangers: Ianis Hagi CAM (Out), Kemar Roofe CAM (Out), Filip Helander CB (Out), Jon McLaughlin GK (Out), John Souttar CB (Out), Tom Lawrence CAM (Out).
Liverpool: Ibrahima Konate CB (Out), Naby Keita CM (Out), Alex Oxlaide Chamberlain CM (Out), Curtis Jones CM (Out), Caoimhin Kelleher GK (Out), Andrew Robertson LB (Out), Luis Diaz FWR (Out), Trent Alexander-Arnold RB (Questionable).
Rangers vs Liverpool weather
A wet day in Glasgow should have dried up by the time of kickoff at 8 p.m. local time, temperatures will have dropped to 50 degrees and will drop lower as the game progresses.
