Galatasaray v Liverpool: Ekitike can shine in goal-heavy game | OneFootball

Galatasaray v LiverpoolTuesday 30 September, 20:00

Turkish champions looking to bridge the gap

There's no doubt that Galatasaray have taken an iron grip of Turkish football, one that cost Jose Mourinho his job at their rivals Fenerbahce. The Istanbul giants have won three Super Lig titles in a row under coach Okan Buruk, and this season they have won all seven of their league matches, giving them a sizeable lead in the title race.

The challenge that now faces Galatasaray is bridging the gap between domestic dominance and European success. In Buruk's first season they failed to come through a group involving Bayern, Manchester United and Copenhagen, last term they were thrashed in the first knockout round by Dutch club AZ, and this season's European adventure began with a 5-1 hammering at Eintracht Frankfurt.

That debacle at Deutsche Bank Park was the kind of thing that recruiting experienced European campaigners was meant to prevent. Galatasaray looked strong for the first half-hour, leading 1-0 and threatening to add to that advantage. However, the defence simply melted away, there were two own goals and they looked incredibly vulnerable when defending set plays.

There is certainly plenty of attacking firepower at Buruk's disposal. Mauro Icardi's return from injury has been a roaring success, with the controversial Italian scoring five goals in seven games, including the winner in the weekend's 1-0 success at Alanyaspor. He has deputised well for Victor Osimhen, with the Nigerian international struggling with an ankle injury.

Former Premier League stars Leroy Sané, Ilkay Gundogan, Mario Lemina and Lucas Torreira are all likely to start here.

Liverpool finally on the wrong end of fine margins

An occupational hazard for tightrope walkers is falling off, and after securing late and narrow victories aplenty this season, Liverpool were upended at in-form Crystal Palace on Saturday. Having been completely outplayed in the first half, Liverpool looked to have rescued a point with a late Federico Chiesa leveller, only for Eddie Nketiah to win it for the Eagles deep in stoppage time. Arsenal's equally dramatic win at Newcastle on Sunday means Liverpool's lead at the top has been shaved down to two points.

There's no doubt the Premier League champions have assembled one of the best squads in Europe, and their results have largely been impressive, but there are also legitimate concerns. The failure to sign Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi on deadline day, coupled with a serious injury to Italian talent Giovanni Leoni, means there is a lack of depth at centre-back. A shaky start to the campaign for Ibrahima Konaté has further highlighted that deficiency.

Liverpool have played nine competitive games, and have kept just two clean sheets. They have conceded twice or more in five of those matches. Despite having over 71% possession against Palace on Saturday, Liverpool allowed seven shots on target and an xG of 2.92 (according to Opta), and only a virtuoso display from Alisson kept the score down.

There are issues elsewhere. Big-money signing Florian Wirtz is yet to score or assist, and is struggling with the pace and physicality of English football. I'm convinced he will come good, but the former Bayer Leverkusen star needs time. Alexander Isak is still catching up after missing the whole of pre-season, and Mo Salah only has two Premier League goals, one of which was a penalty.

Hugo Ekitike is likely to start after returning from suspension, and if we ignore his faux pas against Southampton recently (he picked up a second yellow card for taking his shirt off in celebration), it's been an excellent start to the season. The French forward has scored in five of his eight Liverpool appearances this term.

Elsewhere Joe Gomez could come in for Konaté, who had an incredibly tough afternoon at Selhurst Park.

Shot-happy Sané can help us to evens payout

I want to back Both Teams To Score here, but given Liverpool's lack of clean sheets and the firepower of Galatasaray it's well below evens. However, we can boost the price to 1/1 by backing Leroy Sané to have two shots or more on the Bet Builder.

The former Bayern Munich and Manchester City star has had at least two shots in six of his eight appearances since joining the club, and his pace makes him a huge threat in those transitional moments that Liverpool often struggle to defend effectively.

Ekitike back to spearhead the attack

With Isak still being managed carefully, it seems likely that Ekitike will come in to start this game, and he is an attractive price to find the net at 6/5 on the Sportsbook. The former Eintracht Frankfurt forward not only has an impressive strike-rate for Liverpool, but it's worth remembering he scored 22 goals in all competitions last term for the German side.