Joe Cole is expecting a ‘tight’ contest at Anfield when two of his former clubs go head to head in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
Liverpool play host to West Ham in the quarter-finals of the competition, which Jurgen Klopp’s side are aiming to win for the second time in three seasons, in the knowledge that Arsenal, Tottenham, Aston Villa and both Manchester clubs have already been knocked out.
The former Reds winger gave his prediction to the official EFL website, and while his heart is leaning towards his boyhood club from east London, objectively he’s backing a narrow home win.
Cole stated: “This is one where my heart might rule my head here. If I’m going to predict it with my head, I want West Ham to win but I have to back Liverpool because I think they’re going to come into their own, from now to the run-in and I think they have too much for West Ham, but it’ll be tight.”
Following a flat performance against Manchester United on Sunday, Liverpool should be gunning to prove a point when they take on David Moyes’ side tomorrow night.
Klopp will inevitably ring the changes ahead of the top-of-the-table Premier League clash against Arsenal on Saturday, but those coming into the line-up ought to see the Carabao Cup tie as their audition for a starting berth at the weekend.
With several top-half teams already eliminated, and the Reds’ Europa League campaign not resuming until March, we should be going all-out to try and win the first domestic trophy of the season, ensuring that there’s something tangible to take away from 2023/24 if we come up short in the top flight and in Europe.
Also, even with progression bringing with it a two-legged semi-final in January, we currently only have four fixtures in the diary next month (on the 1st, 7th, 21st and 31st), so there’ll be no repeat of the quick turnarounds that Liverpool are negotiating in the lead-up to Christmas.
West Ham’s tails will be up after two impressive results over the past week, and they gave Klopp’s side a good game in their 3-1 defeat at Anfield in September, so LFC will need to be on it from the start if they’re to avoid a second disappointing home result in four days.
However, if the Reds are at their best, they should have the quality to overcome a good Irons team tomorrow night.
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Surprisingly balanced assessment!
1-2 Kudus and Bowen
How’s that prediction working out? 😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 5 – 1!!!!!!!!!!!