Ajax v Liverpool predictions: Vulnerable defences should ensure entertainment

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Ajax v Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 2, 8pm Wednesday

Best bets

Over 3.5 goals
3pts 6-5 general

Harvey Elliott to score at any time
1pt 9-2 Hills

Team news

Ajax
The hosts are set to be without Devyne Rensch, Ahmetcan Kaplan and Mohamed Ihattaren while Kenneth Taylor is a doubt.

Liverpool
Arthur, Joel Matip, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz are injured. Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are not in the Champions League squad but Thiago Alcantara, Ibrahima Konate and Darwin Nunez should feature.

Preview

Liverpool's last three Premier League results have been 1-0 wins over Manchester City and West Ham and a shock 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest but the goals should flow when they resume their Champions League Group A campaign away to Ajax.

The Reds needed an 89th-minute goal from Joel Matip to pinch a 2-1 home win over Ajax on matchday two and the centre-back's late intervention was a vital one as Liverpool had been thumped 4-1 by Napoli in their opener.

Jurgen Klopp's men cemented their top-two position in the group thanks to back-to-back victories over Rangers, winning 2-0 at Anfield before a 7-1 rout at Ibrox where they scored six times in a 32-minute second half salvo.

Goals should be on the menu at the Johan Cruyff Arena as Ajax's defensive deficiencies were brutally exposed by Napoli in their recent double-header.

After winning all six of their group games in last term's Champions League, Ajax look set for demotion to the Europa League this time around following a 6-1 home defeat to Napoli and a 4-2 loss in Naples on matchday four.

They have to come out and attack Liverpool, which will suit the Reds, and there should be plenty of chances at both ends so backing over 3.5 goals looks the best bet.

Despite Liverpool's form and fitness problems this season they remain capable of ripping apart opponents. Mohammed Salah scored a six-minute hat-trick against Rangers last time out in the Champions League and they thumped Bournemouth 9-0 in the Premier League at the end of August.

However, defence remains an area of concern for the Reds, who started this month with a 3-3 draw against Brighton at Anfield and a 3-2 defeat at Arsenal.

Ajax bounced back from their maulings against Napoli by beating Excelsior 7-1 and RKC Waalwijk 4-1 in the Eredivisie and they are likely to line up in an attack-minded 4-3-3 formation.

With a six-point advantage over third-placed Ajax, a draw would do nicely for Liverpool, although it is hard to see this contest petering out into a low-scoring stalemate.

Salah, Darwin Nunez and Roberto Firmino head the first-goalscorer betting and Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott, a rare bright spark in their defeat at Forest, is an eyecatching 9-2 to score at any time.

Elliott had five shots against Rangers at Ibrox, scoring his side's seventh goal in the 87th minute, and Ajax's vulnerable defence should encourage him to get forward.

He notched in the Premier League rout of Bournemouth, had four attempts at goal in August's defeat at Manchester United, and could play his part in another lively Group A contest.