FA Cup 3rd round: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Liverpool: Wolves Look to Heap Further Woe on Merseysiders

The FA Cup Third Round draw is always awaited with eager anticipation – and there is always at least one mouth-watering clash.

This season’s tie of round three takes place on Monday night – kick-off: 19:45 GMT – and pits newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers – who have already found their feet at Premier League level, against current league leaders, Liverpool, who will be looking to erase memories of their narrow 2-1 reversal against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday night.

On Monday evening, it will be just seventeen days since the two clubs most recently met at Molineaux in the Premier League with Liverpool running out as comfortable 2-0 winners, with goals from Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, either side of half time.

As everyone knows, the magic of the FA Cup can often throw out surprise results from time to time, and Wolves will surely be looking to try to find further weaknesses in Jurgen Klopp’s side following their first Premier League defeat of the season.

Both teams are likely to make changes from their regular league line-ups which can also give more credence to a potentially different outcome to their most recent meeting.

Match Odds

The Match Odds for this contest are significantly different in comparison to the Premier League game – and it offers further hopes for the Wolves, according to the bookmakers.

Liverpool are still the obvious favourites to progress to Round Four, but the Merseysiders are a much more backable price at 13/15 with SportingBet to claim a Molineaux double for the season. Some bookies priced up Liverpool at 6/11 for their pre-Christmas clash, which highlights the drift.

The Draw is next best in the betting at 27/10 with William Hill and 888Sport, while a victory for Nuno Espirito Santos’ side can be taken with Unibet at the best industry odds of 7/2. The former layer of the pair had Wolves as 6/1 hopes against Liverpool before Santa Claus came to town.

While Wolves are obviously shorter in the betting for this game, it does offer greater value in backing the Reds here. Jurgen Klopp has built depth within his squad – especially in recent transfer windows, and this could ultimately tell in this game. Wolves will try and throw everything at Liverpool, but I expect Klopp’s side to progress to the next round at a shade of odds-on.

Individual Goal Scorers

Mohamed Salah, Liverpool

This is a market to tread carefully. My strongest advice above anything in this particular market is to check the Team News for the game around one hour before kick-off before placing any wagers. Okay, if your particular First Goalscorer choice is not on the field when the opening goal is scored, your bet will be refunded, but let’s face it, there’s no fun in that.

Mohamed Salah is the obligatory favourite to score the First Goal in this game, but it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise to see the Egyptian star rested to the bench. Betway go top price of 15/4 for the Liverpool striker, and if he starts the game, then he is of obvious interest.

I would prefer to look (from a pre-match perspective alone) at Daniel Sturridge and Xherdan Shaqiri as potential opening scorer options for Liverpool. Both players entered the pitch against Manchester City as substitutes, but Klopp is likely to shuffle his squad options to suit his fringe men for this game. Sturridge is a best-priced 23/5 with Unibet, while Shaqiri can be taken at 7/1 with Betway.

The team that Wolves are likely to field is less simple to predict, so we will just offer up the prices of some of their potential First Goalscorer options. Raul Jimenez is a 15/2 shot with Betway, while Brazilian forward, Leo Bonatini is available with William Hill and Coral at the top price of 17/2.

A couple to throw out at bigger odds include Liverpool’s James Milner and Wolves’ Ruben Neves at 18/1 with Betway for Milner, while SportPesa and RedZoneSports offer the tempting price of 79/4 for the Portuguese midfielder, who has a penchant for long-range strikes.

Other Side Bets

I have already pinned my colours to the Liverpool mast for this game, but I don’t believe that it will be all plain sailing for the Reds, so I have come up with a couple of alternatives.

Firstly, despite Liverpool leaking just nine Premier League goals so far this season, I believe that Both Teams to Score is a cracking bet at 4/5 with the likes of 888Sport and SportPesa. I expect this game to be highly entertaining with chances at both ends of this pitch, with goals looking very likely. 4/5 looks generous in my view.

Secondly, Liverpool to win and Both Teams to Score is a tempting price of 11/4 with Betfred. It is a combination of my initial selections, and is definitely worthy of interest here.

Finally, our usual Correct Score option is for a narrow 2-1 victory for Liverpool. The best industry price at the time of writing for this outcome is 31/4 with 10Bet and SportPesa.

Best Bets:

• Both Teams to Score in the Match at 4/5 with 888Sport
• Liverpool to win and Both Teams to Score at 11/4 with BetFred
• Wolves 1-2 Liverpool Full-Time Result at 31/4 with 10Bet.