With Liverpool reaching the FA Cup final, and an all-British Europa League final still on the cards, we’re looking at some of the week’s biggest Market Movers.
Whisper it, but an unprecedented quadruple is most certainly on the cards for Liverpool. One trophy in the bag, they’re favourites for two others, and 2/1 for the fourth.
It’s still 8/1 and there are a number of hurdles still to navigate, but the stars may be aligning for Jurgen Klopp’s men.
The timid title defence which fell apart around Christmas following a litany of defensive injuries led some to believe that we’d seen the best of Klopp’s Liverpool. But returning this campaign with a fully fit squad and shrewd additions in Ibrahima Konate and Luis Diaz has them still fighting on all fronts in April.
Go back to the start of the season and a second draw in their opening five games – the dramatic 3-3 at Brentford – saw the Reds 1500/1 for all four pots.
A tricky festive period in which they threw a 2-0 lead away at Chelsea before losing to Leicester saw them 750/1, but in the knockout stages of the Champions League and the semi-finals of the EFL Cup meant their price was halved from a few months earlier. After overcoming Arsenal, the Reds were still a generous (easy to say now, of course) 500/1.
When Manchester City lost to Tottenham, the Premier League door was suddenly ajar, and having already won away from home against Inter, the price for all four was cut from 200/1 to 125/1.
After the first trophy was wrapped up with that epic 22-penalty shoot-out against Chelsea, Liverpool were 66/1.
Things went their way even more over the next few weeks, drawing Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals, with expected semi-final opponents Bayern Munich falling to Villarreal.
They’ll now host struggling rivals Manchester United, looking to keep the pressure on City, as history beckons.
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The prospect of an all-British Europa League final remains intact following West Ham and Rangers’ superb victories last Thursday.
Should they make the final, no one can say they’ve had an easy run. Having won their group, they were tasked with high-flying Sevilla, and had to overcome a first-leg defeat – after which they were 14/1, doing so in extra-time.
They then faced similarly high-flying Lyon, now priced at 7/1 to win the Europa League, albeit needing to go to France and getting at least a draw to force extra-time once more. Instead, a tremendous performance saw them win 3-0, and they’re now 8/15 to overcome Eintracht Frankfurt and reach a first European final since 1965, which they’re 2/1 to win.
Rangers, meanwhile, just keep on going. Getting out of the group was one thing, overcoming Borussia Dortmund was very much another. Suddenly they’re in a European semi-final.
Having lost their first two group games, then drawing with Brondby after beating them in the reverse fixture, Rangers were 150/1 for European success, facing a must-win game with Sparta Prague.
The Gers won 2-0, seeing them through with a game to spare and into 66/1, before being rather unfortunately paired with Borussia Dortmund, who’d fallen into the competition via the Champions League.
After that incredible night in Germany, in which they led 3-0 and 4-1, they took a 4-2 lead back to Ibrox, but were still as big as 40/1 to lift the trophy.
The 2-2 draw at Ibrox was more than enough to qualify, and saw them cut to 20/1. The 3-0 home win before a 2-1 second leg defeat against Red Star Belgrade sent them to the quarter-finals, though they were still outsiders for the competition at 14/1.
They were even bigger still after the 1-0 defeat to Braga pushed them back out to 25/1, but another incredible night at Ibrox carried them to the semi-finals, where they’re 3/1 to qualify against RB Leipzig, and 8/1 to win the Europa League.
By Steve Freeth
