Predicted football score Liverpool vs PSV in the Champions League

Overview

Coach Arne Slot has an unimpressive record against PSV and this will not bring much comfort to Liverpool. The Kop are in dire need of a win at Anfield at the moment.

Liverpool have just been knocked down 3 goals at home by Nottingham Forest and have now lost 6 of their last 7 matches in the Premier League. This series of matches has caused them to drop to the bottom half of the rankings.

However, things are going well in the Champions League, with a 1-0 win over Real Madrid in early November, taking Liverpool's total win tally to three. The minimal defeat to Galatasaray was their only defeat so far.

Slot, who has been criticised, has never had a good record against the Eredivisie giants, having won just one of his last eight games in all competitions (D3 L4). He also lost to PSV when he was in charge of Liverpool last season. However, Slot's side were already sure to make it into the top eight and saw significant changes in personnel.

No team has caused Slot to suffer as many failures in his coaching career as PSV (4 times - equal to FC Twente and Vitesse). And he will certainly want to turn things around at Anfield.

Fortunately for Slot, Liverpool's home form in the European arena is a solid support. The Kop have won all 13 of their most recent home matches in the Champions League group stage.

Moreover, Liverpool have only lost once at Anfield in the last 25 group stage matches in the top flight of Europe. That was a 2-0 defeat to Atalanta in November 2020 (W21 D3).

Slot also has players who are contributing to his mark in Europe this season. In the first 4 matches, the only ones to create more than 5 big chances belonged to Liverpool, with Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai.

On the other side of the front line, PSV have scored more goals from the 86th minute or more than any other team in the Champions League this season (4 goals). In particular, their goal in the 93rd minute against Olympiakos was their latest away goal in the tournament.

Ricardo Pepi is in the focus of PSV's attack, having been directly involved in five goals in his last four Champions League games (3 goals, 2 assists), including a goal and a pass to Liverpool in January.

With two consecutive games in charge, Pepi could well become only the fourth PSV player to score in three consecutive games in the competition, behind Gilles De Bilde (1997), Ruud van Nistelrooy (1998) and Luuk de Jong (2018).

Head-to-head record

Liverpool won the year in their first six meetings with PSV in European competition (D1).

However, as mentioned, last season they surprisingly lost 2-3 to champions Netherlands in the group stage. This was also Liverpool's only defeat in the League Phase last season (won 7).

However, PSV has an unimpressive away record against English sides in European competition, having won just one of their last 14 games (D5 L8). Last season, they held Arsenal to a 2-2 draw in the round of 16, but that result was not very meaningful as they lost 1-7 to the "Gunners" in the first leg in Eindhoven.

PSV's only win in England came in the first leg of the 2007-08 UEFA Cup round of 16, when they beat Tottenham 1-0, thanks to Jefferson Farfan's only goal.

Score prediction: Liverpool 2-1 PSV