Liverpool vs Ajax, 01 December 2020, 8:00 PM
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European Cup Chronicles - Meeting of Historical HeavyweightsThis is a meeting of two heavyweights of the European Cup/Champions League having won it 10 times between them. Liverpool had their successes under Paisley and Fagan in the 70s and 80s followed by more recent successes under Benitez and Klopp in the 21st century. Ajax won it thrice in the 70s and once in the 90s. Recently, Ajax have struggled to repeat their former successes, although they reached the semi-finals in the 2018-19 season.
Liverpool are considered one of the favourites for the current edition of the tournament, although multiple injuries this season may have caused a change of opinion among pundits and bookies will be well on their toes for the later stages of the tournament. Ajax are fighting with Atalanta and Liverpool for one of the Top 2 spots in the group and the group is nicely poised at the moment.
Group Table - Combinations and PossibilitiesLiverpool are top of the table with 9 points. Ajax and Atalanta closely follow Liverpool with 7 points and Midtjylland are yet to open their account.
Liverpool need 1 win in their next 2 games to qualify for the Knockout stages.
Ajax need to beat Liverpool and either draw with Atalanta with a higher aggregate, or beat Atalanta or hope that Liverpool drop points against Midtjyland to qualify. Ajax can also lose to Liverpool and beat Atalanta to qualify for the Knockout stages.
Current Form - Wins, Draws, Losses and all that malarkeyLiverpool won 3 of their first 4 games in the group, with their latest game being a defeat to Atalanta, only their second Home defeat in Europe under Klopp. Ajax lost to Liverpool in the first game and drew with Atalanta, but came back into the qualification discussion with back to back wins against Midtjyland.
The last 5 games of both sides go like this (recent games first)
Liverpool - D L W D W
Ajax - W W W W W
Liverpool's form has been patchy, but that's no surprise due to the vast number of injuries suffered by Klopp's men. Liverpool are still 2nd in the Premier League and Ajax are sitting pretty at the top of Eredivisie.
Head to Head - Direct Meetings between the two sidesLiverpool have played Ajax for a grand total of 3 games so far, with both sides winning once and drawing the remaining game. The first two games were played in 1966, hence that's not much of an information in terms of how the game could go on Tuesday.
The more recent game was the first game of this CL campaign for both the sides, where Ajax were competent and threatening in their own way and Liverpool held firm to win by an own goal. Liverpool would like to win this game and put qualification to bed for once rather than doing it the usual Liverpool way and relying on the last game/moment.
Injuries and Suspensions - Who's been keeping the doctors busy?Joe Gomez and Virgil Van Dijk are out for the foreseeable future. Trent Alexander-Arnold and James Milner also have injuries that could keep them out of Liverpool's defense. Naby Keita, Thiago and Xherdan Shaqiri are other concerns and could miss this game.
For Ajax, Mohammed Kudus is the only reported injury.
Predicted Lineup - 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 - scribble them allAlisson
Neco Williams
Rhys Williams
Joel Matip
Andy Robertson
Fabinho
Jordan Henderson
Mo Salah
Roberto Firmino
Diogo Jota
Sadio Mane
Time to discuss..
