Liverpool’s success at in the on Sunday means the leaders head into their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg with Fulham chasing silverware on four fronts.
Just like last year, the Reds enter the new year still involved in a quest to win the quadruple but it may be worth Jurgen Klopp remembering what happened to Pep Guardiola’s team as their eyes widened at the prospect of sweeping all the major competitions at home and abroad.
Eventual Treble-winners City travelled down to Hampshire as red-hot favourites to beat Southampton in the Carabao Cup last January and were beaten 2-0 by a club so bad they finished bottom of the table, a massive 11 points adrift of safety.
Fulham are better than that but Liverpool will still be expected to brush them aside at Anfield and take a huge step towards a Wembley final. However, any complacency could prove extremely costly.
The Cottagers put up a spirited show when they played Liverpool in the league at Anfield at the start of last month, losing to a late goal in a 4-3 thriller and recently beat the Gunners 2-1 by the banks of the Thames.
They are also fresh from a Carabao Cup success on Merseyside, having reached the last four of the competition by beating Everton on penalties across Stanley Park at Goodison and Fulham manager Marco Silva knows all about life in Liverpool having managed the Toffees before taking charge at Craven Cottage.
The Reds, who are through to the last 16 of the Europa League, are notoriously formidable in front of the Kop and have not lost at Anfield in all competitions for 11 months, with their last home reversal coming when they were battered 5-2 by Real Madrid in a Champions League shocker.
Fulham have a poor away record with one win and three draws in nine league away days, so we’ll take Liverpool to stay on course for a tenth League Cup success.
They can follow Carabao Cup victories against Leicester, Bournemouth and West Ham by winning 2-1 at 15/2 with William Hill, Betway, Coral, Betway and bet365.
Diogo Jota is 5/1 with the latter to open the scoring and 6/4 with the same firm to celebrate a goal at any time.
• South Korea are 5/1 with Betway to win the Asian Cup and Son Heung-Min is 11/4 with William Hill to be the tournament’s leading scorer.
• Morocco created history when they beat Spain and Portugal to become the first African team to reach the World Cup semi-finals in Qatar just over a year ago. The Atlas Lions are 6/1 with Betfred and BoyleSports to win the Africa Cup of Nations while Sevilla striker Youssef En-Nesyri is worth an each-way flutter at 12/1 with William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral to be the Afcon leading scorer.
