Rafa Benitez's men have been leaky of late.

By Reece Killworth

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BETTING BOX
FIXED ODDS
	2pts Liverpool and Portsmouth both to score at 5/4 (Sky Bet, William Hill, Paddy Power).	Reds should win at home but have been leaky of late.

Liverpool v Portsmouth (2000 GMT)

Think back to the start of the season.

OK, so you may not have tipped up Liverpool for the title but I bet you wouldn't have got anywhere near predicting their win-loss record by mid-March.

By way of a pointer, Manchester United's is W31 L9 in all competitions. Liverpool's? Well, they've won just four more games than they've lost - a pretty umimpressive record of W19 L15.

Of course, the latter of those two figures has climbed from 13 inside the last week, with 1-0 defeats at Wigan on Monday night and in Lille three days later.

The first of those results came courtesy of a frankly chronic performance the DW Stadium and though they produced a gritty response in France, Eden Hazard's 85th-minute goal proved the difference between the sides.

Speaking after the game, Rafa Benitez said: "It was an improvement from the last game. The players' reaction has been very positive."

His team will certainly be pleased to be back at Anfield after a week to forget; indeed you have to go back to mid-December for their last league defeat in front of their own fans, though Reading did beat them there in the FA Cup.

Only two of the Reds' nine league defeats have come at home and as such it's hard to see past a home win particularly given Portsmouth's predicament.

They may be through to the FA Cup semi-finals but their financial woes have been well documented and they're five points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League with the very real possibility of another nine being added to that gap.

One thing they have shown in recent weeks, though, is a threat in front of goal having scored in each of their last six matches since a 5-0 mauling at Manchester United.

That includes three in two games against a usually resolute Birmingham defence and two at Burnley, where better teams have drawn a blank.

With Liverpool justifying quotes of 1/4 on home turf we can't see a situation where they won't score but with them having conceded in each of their last four, and Pompey on a decent scoring run both teams to score appeals.

It's 8/15 with Coral and against that the odds-against quotes of 5/4 have drawn us in.

Verdict: Liverpool 2 Portsmouth 1