Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has delivered his prediction for Liverpool’s Premier League encounter with Cardiff City this Saturday.
The Reds welcome Neil Warnock’s side to Anfield looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the league campaign, and Merson feels Jurgen Klopp’s men will come out on top in a 2-0 win.
“Cardiff will be looking to get out of Anfield without any injures,” he wrote for Sky Sports. “It’s a case of concentrating on their next game. However, Neil Warnock’s side are a threat from set-pieces and have it in them to frustrate Liverpool.
“These are the games where Liverpool can slip up, which is why Manchester City will win the league easily – they ease past these teams. Sometimes these games are a grind for Liverpool. They will win this one but Cardiff will make it difficult.”
OPINION
Merson has a point, here. The Reds do tend to struggle against teams that they should beat easily. Already this season we have seen them record narrow victories over the likes of Huddersfield Town, Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion. Klopp’s side need to differentiate themselves from past Reds iterations by winning this game easily. Cardiff are, probably, the worst team in the Premier League and Liverpool should be blowing them away as a result. In the past this sort of game has been a slog for the Reds, but they need to show their class with a big win at Anfield. It seemed as if everything was clicking in their 4-0 win over Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League on Wednesday so if they can carry that form through to Saturday’s game then they should win easily. In a strange way this is a big test for Liverpool. As Merson says, City breeze past teams like Cardiff; Liverpool need to show that they can do the same.
