Liverpool are in Europa League third qualifying round second leg action against Gomel on Thursday at Anfield as they look set to seal their place in the play-off round of the tournament.
Stewart Downing’s goal in Belarus last week handed Brendan Rodgers a winning start to life in charge of the Merseysiders after he took over from Kenny Dalglish this summer.
And, with a 1-0 lead to defend on home soil, it seems unlikely that Gomel (10/1 Away Win 90 Minutes) will have enough to overturn the deficit and dump the Reds out of Europe at this early stage.
Rodgers is likely to name a similar side to the one which triumphed in the away leg so Daniel Agger is again set to miss out as he is still building up his fitness levels for the new Premier League campaign.
Luis Suarez, fresh from signing a new contract at Anfield, is back from the Olympic Games with Uruguay and could be on the bench with Andy Carroll pushing summer signing Fabio Borini for a starting role.
Gomel manager Oleg Kubarev is not expected to make wholesale changes from the first leg with danger man Aleksandr Alumona set to lead the attack, while Nikolay Lipatkin could be handed a start after a 15-minute substitute display last week.
Despite Liverpool’s first-leg win, it was Gomel who dominated large spells of the game as they are six weeks into their league season.
Match-winner Downing is hoping the Reds will not be as lacklustre this time around following another week of pre-season work and use their quality to seal a safe passage into the next round (11/2 Liverpool to win 2-0).
He said: “Obviously I can understand fans who want us to be fast out of the blocks but we had only been back 10 days so for me, it was a good result, maybe not the best performance but with a week’s training behind us we’ll put a better performance in at Anfield.”
Another notable second leg fixture sees Scottish Premier League outfit Dundee United travelling to Russia to face Dinamo Moscow hoping to snatch a win (15/2 Away Win 90 Minutes) which would send them through.
Moscow have two away goals after last week’s 2-2 draw at Tannadice and are 3/10 favourites to progress, although Peter Houston’s men could go for the draw after 90 minutes (10/3) and try and take the tie all the way to progress.
The 2010 Champions League winners Inter Milan thrashed Croatian outfit Hadjuk Split 3-0 in last week’s away first leg so not surprisingly are 1/7 to win the home tie at the San Siro.
Last season’s Europa League finalists, Athletic Bilbao, travel to Croatia for their second-leg tie against NK Slaven Belupo.
The Spanish outfit, who comfortably dismissed Manchester United over two legs last term, managed a 3-1 home-leg win and will look to ease their way through (2/1 Away Win 90 Minutes).
However, the away goal could be the key if the hosts can grab an early goal (Slaven 9/2 Home Win 90 Minutes), but Bilbao should have too much firepower to be really troubled.
A closer tie involves Marseille, who were held 1-1 in Turkey by Eskisehirspor last week.
The French Ligue 1 outfit should have enough to progress on home soil and that is reflected by the fact they are 4/11 to win the game, but a draw at 90 minutes is worth noting at 16/5.
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