Lee Dixon: Suarez to shoot Liverpool to comfortable win at Oldham

Luis Suarez will prove too much for Oldham to deal with

Liverpool make the short trip to Oldham in rude form, in stark contrast to their League One opponents. Lee Dixon can see an easy win for the Premier League side and fancies a certain Uruguayan to opening the scoring.

Oldham v Liverpool
Sunday, 16:00, live on ITV1

I'm desperately searching for a way to make this a potential upset at Boundary Park on Sunday, but the truth is I just can't see a way for Paul Dickov's team to get anything out of the game, even at home. Oldham have been in horrendous form in the league, they've lost seven of their last eight games and haven't won since the beginning of December. They had a good result at the City Ground against Forest in the last round of this competition, but it doesn't seem to have given them any sort of boost in confidence whatsoever - they promptly followed it up with three straight defeats. 

On the other hand, Liverpool are finally starting to click. The Reds have won three of their last four games and their solitary defeat in that time was a narrow defeat at Old Trafford in which they played well in spells. They should be able to deal with an Oldham side who are sliding dangerously towards the League One trapdoor with relative ease.

Despite things going well for his team, Brendan Rodgers will still be desperate to have something to show for this season and the FA Cup is a great opportunity for Liverpool to clinch some silverware. I can easily see goals in this game, but sadly they're likely to nestle in the back of Oldham's net rather than Liverpool's. I originally fancied Liverpool to win to nil, but that's only trading at 1.618/13 and doesn't present much value. 0-3 in the Correct Score market looks much more reasonable at 8.615/2.

One man who should have a field day on Sunday is Luis Suarez. He should start the game, and a bet on him to be First Goalscorer at 3.55n/a looks attractive against a defence that will find it very hard to deal with his trickery. On his day he is absolutely unplayable and should have far too much for Oldham.

Recommended Bets

Liverpool to win 0-3 @ 8.615/2
Luis Suarez to score first @ 3.55n/a

Fixed Odds Cashback if Suarez scores first!

If Lee is right and Luis Suarez scores first, we'll refund first losing Fixed Odds bets, up to 50, on First Goalscorer, Last Goalscorer and Correct Score! Opt in now! 

The Betfair Trader's View: Alan Thompson

Normally, I am comfortable opposing Liverpool as they are the most over backed team in the country. However, on this occasion as Lee says it’s very difficult to make a case for anything other than a Liverpool victory. Therefore, I am going to side with them in the Correct Score market by dutch backing Liverpool to win 2-0 @ 7.4 and 3-0 @ 8.6 giving approximately a 25% book so should return you decimal odds of around 4.0.

I also want to get some cover for this trade on any unquoted, to do this I actually prefer to Lay any unquoted initially at @ 3.8 and then ask for a price to back it back for the same stakes at 6.0 to scratch. If the game remains goalless it will take about 20 minutes to reach this level. Even an early Liverpool goal isn’t too bad, as there is cover on 2-0 & 3-0 and both these prices will decrease.

The Tactical View: Michael Cox

I can only echo Lee’s thoughts – even at [14.5], I can’t find any reason to back Oldham in this one. Liverpool should win comfortably, although I’m going to back Daniel Sturridge, rather than Suarez, to open the scoring at around [4.8]. He’s played as the more advanced striker in Liverpool’s new forward partnership, and there’s a chance Suarez could be rested, as he was against Mansfield in the previous round. With three goals in three Liverpool appearances – just 169 minutes on the pitch – Sturridge should run riot against Oldham, with or without Suarez.