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Sam Allardyce just couldn’t resist.
His feet were barely under the table at West Bromwich Albion earlier this month when asked about the possibility of taking on top managers like Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
“I just hope I can wind them up again, that’s all!” Allardyce joked.
Certainly no one knows how to poop at a party like the former England manager.
Allardyce remains the last visiting manager to leave Anfield with three Premier League points, led by the Crystal Palace side that came from behind to beat Liverpool 2-1 on April 23, 2017, 1,345 days ago.
Since then, the Reds have embarked on a club-record 66-game unbeaten league streak at home, a sequence they intend to extend Sunday afternoon when Allarydce brings his new team from West Brom to Merseyside.
The respective preparations couldn’t be more different.
While Liverpool posted their biggest top flight away win in history last weekend with a 7-0 beating of Crystal Palace, Allardyce’s first game in charge of the Baggies ended in a sad loss at home. 3-0 against Aston Villa during which Jake Livermore was sent off.
Allardyce, pragmatic as ever, knows exactly what to do as his team, which has the second most leaky defense in the Premier League, prepares to face the division’s top scorers.
“You start by ordering the defense, because if we have a clean sheet we only need one goal to win, and right now, the team is struggling to score more than one goal in a game,” he says.
“It was difficult for us to score goals, but the clean sheet is more important to start than the goals.
“And if you can get more goals and a clean sheet at the same time, we’ll start to improve that league a little bit better and faster than anyone expected.”
West Brom, however, has made life difficult for the leading teams this season, drawing at home to Chelsea, narrowly losing by the only goal against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, and coming to a 1-1 stalemate at Manchester City. earlier this month.
And Allardyce adds: “If they show the kind of fighting spirit that they had against Manchester City then they will have a chance to block Liverpool and see what they can do with possession.”
The Baggies have been something of a ghost team for Liverpool in recent years, as the Reds have won just three of the last 10 meetings between the sides.
Indeed, in Anfield’s last previous clash in January 2018, West Brom won a draw in the FA Cup fourth round 3-2 after having won a 0-0 draw there in the Premier League the previous month.
Meanwhile, Allardyce has only returned to Anfield once in the Premier League since that historic Palace win, winning a 1-1 draw while in charge of Everton in December 2017.
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Klopp, who is aiming for his 100th home win as Liverpool manager, has won just two of his previous six meetings with Allardyce and knows largely what to expect when the world champions aim to strengthen their position at the top of the table. of the Premier League.
“It’s a mix of Everton when Sam was at Everton and his last game, his first game, against Aston Villa,” says the Reds boss.
“Sam only had a few days before the Aston Villa game and now he had a full week, that’s a big difference too.
“What I’m hoping for is a tough opponent, he was always tough against Sam Allardyce’s teams – well organized, don’t make a big fuss over possession or whatever, and in the situation West Brom is in, it’ll be a fight adequate.
“Sam is a proven specialist in organizing teams for these types of fights.”
And, of course, in liquidating the big boys. Liverpool know exactly what is coming.
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