Liverpool vs Burnley prediction: How will Premier League fixture play out tonight?
Liverpool are taking on Burnley at Anfield today as the close in on the Premier League points record set by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
The new champions began the day on 92 points, and with four games remaining they can set a new benchmark for top-flight points. However they will have to do it without their captain Jordan Henderson after he was ruled out for the rest of the campaign, and face a Burnley side in good form since the restart.
Hello and welcome to the Independent's live coverage of today's Premier League action. It's another busy Saturday in the top flight, with key games at the bottom and top end of the division.
To start off, though, attention turns to the relegation battle. Norwich, in effect already down, host a West Ham side still looking to pull clear of the bottom three. And Watford are at home against Newcastle, hoping to widen the gap to 18th-placed Bournemouth.
Norwich name an unchanged starting XI after a battling display at Watford. That made it six league defeats in a row, but clearly Daniel Farke liked what he saw.
West Ham, meanwhile, make just one change after their 1-0 defeat against Burnley on Wednesday: captain Mark Noble is back in, replacing Andriy Yarmolenko. This is a big game for the Hammers, who could put some breathing space between themselves and the bottom three with a win.
Watford are also unchanged from their visit of Carrow Road. Nigel Pearson's side weren't particularly convincing in that game, but the only real concern was grinding out a victory, and that's what they did.
Newcastle bring Jamaal Lascelles, Allan Saint-Maximin, Miguel Almiron, Javier Manquillo and Dwight Gayle into the starting XI after their 5-0 defeat at Manchester City, which was a humbling return to reality for Steve Bruce and his players after a decent run of form.
This could turn out to be a bad day for several teams at the bottom of the Premier League. Norwich, of course, will be relegated if they lose, though it seems a matter of when rather than if their place in the Championship for next season will be confirmed.
Aston Villa and Bournemouth could also find themselves in a bad situation if both West Ham and Watford win today. That would take the latter two sides to 34 points, six clear of Bournemouth and seven ahead of Villa. It would put serious pressure on them to win their games tomorrow, and these are not teams in good form.
In a couple of hours, then, things could be looking pretty bleak for the current bottom three.
David Moyes, speaking to BT Sport: "It's a big opportunity, one of a run of games where we have to pick up points. We need a bit more quality, and we need to not concede goals. If we do that, we've got a great chance of staying up."
2 min: Some early attacking intent from West Ham as Bowen surges down the right and breaks into the box. He takes a slightly heavy touch before he can get a shot off, though.
3 min: Saint-Maximin looks lively early on at Vicarage Road, whipping a dangerous ball across the face of goal. It misses everyone, but he's going to be a real threat for the visitors.
4 min: A decent chance for Soucek, who latches onto a mis-hit Antonio shot and almost squeezes the ball in from a tight angle. West Ham are on top early on.
8 min: Soucek is involved again at Carrow Road as Antonio drives down the left and pulls back towards the edge of the box. The Czech midfielder tries to place a low shot into the bottom corner but sends it just wide.
9 min: At Carrow Road, Newcastle look the livelier of the two sides, though it's been a fairly scrappy start. There might be a degree of cautiousness from Watford today. A point would hardly be a disaster for them.
Burnley are in good form right now, and Liverpool are without their captain, but even Sean Dyche will struggle to come up with a way to stop Liverpool in full flow. Liverpool 2-0 Burnley.
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