Liverpool vs Torino Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Champions League runners-up Liverpool will host Walter Mazzarri’s Torino at Anfield this Tuesday evening as the new season gets underway.

Jürgen Klopp will field a different starting XI than the one he played against Napoli on Saturday to ensure all his players get their fitness levels up before the new Premier League season starts. Liverpool enjoyed an exciting season and many Reds fans were left with a feeling of underachievement. Whilst their cup runs weren’t all that impressive, they did finish 4^th in the league, securing automatic qualification for the following edition of the Champions League. Speaking of the Champions League, Liverpool will be proud of their progression to the final, although losing to Real Madrid in Kiev will have left a sour taste, but the experience will serve the club well for the future. However, a club of their magnitude is used to winning trophies every season, although the Anfield side haven’t won any silverware since their famous night in Istanbul back in 2005. Whilst Klopp is leading his team in the right direction, failure to win any trophy this season will be below par and could ultimately cost the German manager his job.

Liverpool have brought in 4 solid signings, particularly in the midfield Fabinho and Naby Keita will replace Coutinho and the ever-ageing James Milner, and goalkeeper Alisson, who enjoyed a good World Cup with Brazil, is set to take the number 1 spot from Loris Karius after the German had a particularly bad end to the season. The main concern for the Reds is whether or not their front three can replicate their tremendous form from last season , particularly Mohamed Salah, whose incredible season saw him score a whopping 44 goals in all competitions. If they Egyptian performs half as well as last season and everything else works out smoothly, then Liverpool are yet again in for a good season.

Their pre-season form has been impressive, winning 7 games out of the 9 they’ve played, losing only to Borussia Dortmund and drawing against League 2 side Bury. The Reds have also scored a fair amount of goals, including a satisfying 4-1 thrashing of Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United, a 7-0 win over Chester and their most recent match was a 5-0 victory over Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli.

Torino will be hoping to face a much better and a more stable season than last year. The Italian side finished 9^th once again and managed to reach the quarter-final in the Coppa Italia. A bad run of games during the first half of the league was enough reason to justify sacking manager Siniša Mihajlović, after the Serbian only managed to win 5 games and draw a further 10. However, despite replacing their manager with Walter Mazzarri on the same day, the new boss didn’t improve things any more than his predecessor.  After going on a successful unbeaten run that lasted 6 weeks, the club went on to lose the next 4 matches but managed to break their drought and only lost twice in the remaining 10 matches. Strikers Andrea Belotti and Iago Falqué scored a combined 27 goals in all competitions, leading the club to just miss out on the possibility of European football.

Il Toro have paid a massive £10.80m for M’Bayer Niang after the striker scored 4 goals on loan at the club last season. Another notable signing has been that of Soualigo Meïté as part of the sale of Antonia Barreca to Monaco.

These new players will help Torino better their performances over the last two seasons and playing against such a giant team that is Liverpool could give the squad as very good experience going into the new season as they commence the league against Roma, who lost to Liverpool in last year’s Champions League semi-final. Torino’s pre-season has seen them win every single match they’ve played, keeping a clean sheet in every single one of them.

Jürgen Klopp has already stated that his starting XI for this match against Torino would be different than the one he fielded when they faced Napoli, but despite this I believe Liverpool will struggle to win, seeing as Torino’s solidity at the back could cause a headache for the Reds. Klopp will also be keeping the Premier League opening day in mind and seeing as this match is the last one before the league starts up again, he could be prompted to take his foot off the gas for this encounter. Even if Torino are solid, I think they’ll eventually concede a goal, so a 1-1 draw is the most likely scenario.