The Most Statistically-Backed Over 2.5 Goals Tips - 20/1/22

On Thursday night, Arsenal take on Liverpool in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final at the Emirates Stadium.

The first leg resulted in a 0-0 draw at Anfield, but, with a winner needing to be decided to progress to the final against Chelsea, there will likely be goals in this match.

Prior to their 0-0 draw against Jurgen Klopp’s side, Arsenal had seen the over 2.5 goals market land three times in their last four matches, losing 2-1 to Manchester City, as well as hammering the likes of Norwich City 5-0 and Sunderland 5-1 as Eddie Nketiah scored a hattrick, whilst Nicolas Pepe and Charlie Patino also got on the scoresheet.

Liverpool’s last outing against Brentford saw the over 2.5 goals market land, as Fabinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Takumi Minamino all managed to score. Their 4-1 FA Cup hammering of Shrewsbury Town and 2-2 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge means that over 2.5 goals have been scored in three of the Anfield club’s last four games.

In the Coppa Italia, AS Roma face Serie B outfit, Lecce, at the Stadio Olimpico with Jose Mourinho’s men coming in as firm favourites to progress through to the quarter-finals.

Roma won last time out against Cagliari to end a three-game winless run, having lost 4-3 and 3-1 to Juventus and AC Milan, as well as drawing 1-1 with Sampdoria, so will be looking to use this match to build up confidence.

Meanwhile, Lecce are in good form in Serie B, as they are fifth in the standings and are four points off top of the table Pisa. Lecce have won four of their last five games across all competitions having beaten Pordenone 1-0, Reggina 2-0 and SPAL 3-1, as well as Serie A side Spezia 2-0 to progress to this round of the cup.

In the Copa del Rey, Elche takes on Real Madrid with both teams looking to progress through to the quarter-finals.

Elche are 15th in La Liga at present and have seen the over 2.5 goals market land in three of their last five games, having been beaten 3-2 by Barcelona in mid-December, as well as earning back to back 2-1 victories over Almeria in this cup, as well as Espanyol in La Liga.

Meanwhile, Real currently lead the Spanish top-flight, with Carlo Ancelotti’s men scoring 45 goals across 21 games, amassing 49 points. Real have won four of their last five matches following their 2-0 Super Cup win over Athletic Bilbao thanks to goals by Luka Modric and Karim Benzema. Los Blancos had also defeated the likes of Valencia 4-1, Alcoyano 3-1 and Bilbao 2-1.

Galatasaray hosts Kasimpasa on Thursday, with the home side looking to drastically improve their league positioning as they are 13th whilst the visitors are 17th in the Turkish Super Lig.

Former Manchester City assistant manager Domenec Torrent has taken over the reins as the Turkish giants, but, has only managed one match so far, a 4-2 loss at Hatayspor last time out, Gala have also been defeated 1-0 and 2-0 by Giresunspor and Adana Demirspor, but, did manage a 2-0 victory over Antalyaspor and a 1-1 draw against Istanbul Basaksehir.

Kasimpasa will be coming into this fixture in full confidence, having defeated Girensunspor 2-0 last time out, as well as managing 3-1 and 2-0 victories over Hatayspor and Altay. Prior to these three wins in a row, they had drawn 1-1 with Antalyaspor and been beaten 3-1 by Sivasspor.

The final game on this list comes from AFCON, where the Ivory Coast and Algeria go head to head in a crucial match for the holders, as anything other than a win for Djamel Belmadi’s side will see them head out of the competition.

Algeria will be determined not to exit the competition and their need to win the game should set up an interesting contest. The Algiers will be disappointed with their tournament so far considering the talent that they have in their squad, as they have been beaten 1-0 by Equitorial Guinea on top of only managing a 0-0 draw with Sierra Leone.

In the runup to AFCON, Algeria had beaten Ghana 3-0 in a friendly, as well as managing a 2-2 draw with Burkina Faso and back to back 4-0 hammerings of Djibouti and Niger.

Ivory Coast have four points from their opening two matches of the Africa Cup of Nations following a 2-2 draw with Sierra Leone last time out following a late defensive blunder having taken the lead in the match twice through Sebastien Haller and Nicolas Pepe, and they beat Equitorial Guinea on matchday one thanks to a Max Gradel goal.