Kick-off: 1700, 26/01/2020
Stadium: New Meadow
TV: BBC One
Shrewsbury are expected to find Liverpool too strong at New Meadow but a decent FA Cup pedigree suggests they will not go down without a fight.
Town reached the quarter-finals in 1979 and 1982, knocked out Everton in 2003 and have held West Ham and Wolves to draws here in the past couple of seasons.
A consolation goal may not be beyond them this time, so 37/20 for an away win and both teams to score is our initial Shrewsbury vs Liverpool prediction.
A Look At Shrewsbury Town’s Betting Odds
Shrewsbury are as low as 16th in League One but only seven points off the play-off places following last Saturday’s encouraging 2-2 draw at Fleetwood.
In the FA Cup, Town accounted for Bradford and Mansfield before claiming a useful scalp in Championship promotion hopefuls Bristol City.
Sean Goss scored a well-taken equaliser just after half-time when they drew 1-1 at Ashton Gate, where Josh Laurent then hit the upright.
Defender Aaron Pierre’s firmly-hit low shot in the 89th minute was the only goal in the replay, but Shrewsbury had created several earlier chances.
Looking ahead to this tie, manager Sam Ricketts said: “It will be a great occasion for the club in general, the players and myself.
“They are brilliant. They have a way of winning games and never look like losing, but we will pick a game plan.
“They have weakness like any team. We will have to ride our luck and when we get chances, we have to try and take them.”
Midfielder Laurent does not get many goals, as a rule, but he did net at home to Bradford and Mansfield in earlier rounds and struck versus Stoke and Wolves last term.
Looking at the Shrewsbury vs Liverpool odds, we reckon 15/2 for the 24-year-old former QPR trainee to hit the target again here is fair value.
A Look At Liverpool’s Betting Odds
Liverpool have followed up last season’s Champions League triumph by running away with the Premier League title race, but Jurgen Klopp does not have a good FA Cup record.
The Reds went out in the fourth round in each of the German’s first three seasons in charge, losing to West Ham, Wolves and West Brom.
A weakened side featuring a number of youngsters was beaten 2-1 at Molineux in the third round last term to keep the hoodoo going.
This year, Klopp named another much-changed line-up when hosting Everton first up and Liverpool were fortunate to survive an early onslaught.
However, the Reds grew stronger and stronger as that game went on and ultimately ran out worthy 1-0 winners thanks to a 71st-minute strike by 18-year-old Curtis Jones.
“We will have a team with fresh legs and it makes sense to play them, because they are pretty good,” commented Klopp ahead of this trip.
“It’s a tough place to go, it always is in cup competitions, but we want to go through, so let’s see.”
Divock Origi should come in after only being used as a late substitute in Thursday’s 2-1 league win at Wolves and he did bag a late brace in October’s amazing 5-5 EFL Cup draw with Arsenal.
Let’s complete our Shrewsbury vs Liverpool betting tips by taking 7/2 for the Belgium forward to grab the last goal in this game, too.
Additional stats
Last result:
Fleetwood 2-2 SHREWSBURY – Shaun Whalley, Jason Cummings
Wolves 1-2 LIVERPOOL – Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firmino
Head-to-head: Shrewsbury 0-4 Liverpool
Join bwin today and receive up to £10 money back as a FreeBet if your first wager at odds of 1/1 (2.0) or greater is a loser! Terms and conditions apply.
