1) Hornets unlikely to sting weary Reds
With Trent Alexander-Arnold injured, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané still physically and emotionally recuperating from Tuesday’s World Cup qualifying playoff in Dakar – complete with extra time, penalties and laser beams – various South Americans making late returns from distant internationals and the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final to come on Tuesday, there could hardly be a better time for a plucky underdog to turn up at Anfield. But even allowing for the massive advantages the division’s leading clubs hold over the upstarts, Watford’s record at their grounds is abysmal: in all competitions since 1990 the Hornets have played away at Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United a combined 38 times, equivalent to one full top-flight season (albeit one with a particularly savage fixture list). In this notional season they have earned a total of six points, with 34 defeats and a single victory, at Anfield under Graham Taylor in 1999. SB
