Laura Woods on Liverpool vs Man City Barnstormer, JJ Gabriel, Luke Littler & More
Liverpool vs Man City Biggest Game of Season Already
There hasn’t been a fixture as anticipated as Liverpool vs Manchester City for a really long time.
If it was City against anyone else there’d still be a hell of a lot of interest – because it’s the first time we’ll see them since they were found guilty of all those charges.
But the fact it's against Liverpool at Anfield, and they are one of the teams who will quite rightly be saying ‘you’ve taken league titles from us and we want them back’, makes it doubly interesting.
Anfield will be absolutely mental. It’s probably the last place they would want to go in the Premier League after all that’s happened.
It’s been an extra wait because this extended international break been so long. City may feel like they’ve dodged the massive impact of it with it coming out at the beginning of the break.
But it’s just going to make the wait worth it for all the other teams who will be looking at how they’re going to react.
Plus, the Liverpool fans are definitely going to stick the boot in.
City are either going to fold under the pressure of it all – which would be totally understandable and last season they probably got the hint this was coming – or it will pull them together and Enzo Maresca gives one hell of a team talk to get them firing on all cylinders?
It’s going to be a fascinating one.
Man City to be relegated this season is 8/5 with BetMGM
Anfield Could Produce a Classic
On the pitch I’m hoping it will feel like an old-school Liverpool-City game.
One where they just bring the best out of each other and we get one of those classic shootouts with quite a few goals.
I reckon it could end 2-2 or something like that.
Or if City aren’t up for it and are crumbling a little bit under the pressure, it could be a real embarrassment for Maresca.
Liverpool-City to end 2-2 is 17/2 with BetMGM
My Golden Goals Matchday 6 Selections
Here are my picks for this week’s Golden Goals, BetMGM’s free-to-play correct score predictor game with up to £100,000 up for grabs:
- Aston Villa 2-1 Brentford
- Chelsea 2-1 Bournemouth
- Sunderland 1-2 Brighton
- Manchester United 1-0 Tottenham
- Hull 1-0 Everton
- Liverpool 2-2 Manchester City
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Fancy it? Get your own entries in here or, if you need a hand deciding, take a look at BetMGM’s expert analysis for all six games here first.
CARE REQUIRED IN JJ GABRIEL SITUATION
If it’s true that JJ Gabriel’s camp has been demanding minutes and saying ‘we will go somewhere else’... you just cannot do that in football, especially when your client is that young.
A manager still has to maintain the right to choose his team. Yes, Gabriel’s got a lot of talent but he’s not proven yet and anything can happen.
I don’t think these demands are coming from him directly; they couldn’t really be at the age of 16.
But what it is doing is already creating this unhealthy attitude towards him – especially in the media and you know how fans like to jump on certain things.
That is just creating a problem. At that age you’ve got to let the football do the talking and, no matter what move he makes, you can’t go around demanding things.
He could be the next Lionel Messi but I don’t think he is. He still has a lot to learn.
And if he wants to go abroad, those positions are so highly sought after that there will be so much more competition than he could even imagine. With these youngsters, you always have to look at the team around them. Is he being advised perfectly? Are they looking at the interest of the player or themselves and where the extra money can be made?
Some people get so excited and get their claws stuck into these young, talented players. So much so that actually they cause them so many problems and the path they’re on shouldn’t be the one they’re taking.
They have to be really, really careful.
Man Utd to finish top four is 7/4 with BetMGM
Littler Poor Form Gives Others Hope
Luke Littler has now lost early in the last two majors and went out in the semis of the World Youth Championship – that one is a little bit different to the Grand Prix because he’d played a couple of games already that day and it’s not quite the same level he’s used to.
We have to remember the Grand Prix is also such a strange format – double in, double out.
When I’ve worked on it in the past, a lot of the favourites fall early because it’s such a tricky format and if you can’t get your head around it or you mess it up, the pressure just adds.
It can create really random and interesting finals with individuals you don’t really expect.
What I think it has done is open the door ever so slightly for a few of the other elite players ahead of the 2027 World Championship.
On a big stage like that where Littler’s already won it twice, your confidence is going to guide you through a lot of that way. You just know where you are, you’ve done it a couple of times and you’re at home in that kind of environment.
The way that Luke showed he was capable of coming from behind and winning in that format is really significant.
And Gerwyn Price making it all the way to the final in the Grand Prix is also really significant I feel, because they’re both in form and you can look at that and say they are two solid challengers for the World Championship. Littler is my favourite but Luke Humphries and Price are also way up there, which is what we want to see.
I love Littler. I loved Phil Taylor. I loved Michael van Gerwen. But we do like having competition, especially as we head into the worlds, so this is potentially a really good thing for darts.
Luke Littler to win the World Championship is 7/10 with BetMGM
Whittaker Needs to Learn Lessons
Ben Whittaker is quite an interesting case.
He came and had a chat with us just after the Olympics. He was really gregarious, really fun to interview, full of personality like you’d expect and like you see in the ring as well.
It doesn’t feel like he’s lived up to expectations yet. He will probably become a world champion because that’s what the world of boxing is like and they will have to pick his path very carefully.
But I don’t think he’s the best in the light heavyweight division.
There’s a lot to be learned in those later rounds and with the showboating and the low hands and all that sort of stuff… it can look impressive against a lesser opponent than you – and it has been entertaining in the past – but my big concern with Ben is that when we’ve seen him in battles, that all feels out of place and a bit naive.
And then when he gets pushed like he did this past weekend in the final rounds against Conor Wallace, you want him to pull out a knockout blow or something convincing and it doesn’t arrive. I’d like to see him be more decisive.
The other way you could look at it is he showed a lot of courage to make it through against Wallace and when it got difficult he could dig deep and battle through the pain – which of course is a great sign for a fighter. But, yeah, the showboating just doesn’t sit well with me.
When you think about showboating you think about Muhammad Ali, Roy Jones Jr. and all those legends that do it properly and go on to become multiple-time world champions.
He went through the ropes against Liam Cameron and some quarters accused him of feigning injury and all that – I do think that damaged his reputation and a bit in people’s minds over how he deals with fights and he’s still coming back from that.
I still do think he could become a world champion but he has to learn a lot from that last fight and the mistakes he’s made on the way up.
He’s not at that top level yet.
Odds correct at time of publication but subject to change. Please note: This week's Golden Goals deadline is Saturday 10th October 15:00. Opt-in is required and you can find out more here.
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