With Merseyside derby due on Sunday, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is likely to rest most of his starters against Anzhi, despite the fact that his side desperately need a win.

The in-form Russians will be looking to take advantage of the situation and edge closer to a place in the next stage.

Following some very poor dealings in the summer transfer window, new boss Brendan Rodgers faced a very difficult task of trying to improve club’s fortunes.

With the Premier League campaign clearly a priority and due to the lack of strength in depth, the talented manager had no choice but to field under-strength sides in Europa League, and there is every chance the trend will continue.

The second string side may have brought all three points from Switzerland, but they were beaten at home by Udinese and there is absolutely no value in backing the Reds at odds of 2.30 (13/10) offered at 888sport.

With the match against Everton just three days after the Anzhi game, Rodgers will surely rest most of his starters in midweek, so we can expect a similar side to that which lost to Udinese.

It is important to point out that Jose Reina, Fabio Borini, Lucas Leiva and Martin Kelly miss out through injury.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Jones – Robinson, Coates, Carragher, Enrique – Henderson, Allen, Shelvey – Downing, Pacheco, Assaidi.

Anzhi Makhachkala are taking the football world by storm, and they are extremely motivated to become a force to be reckoned with in European football as soon as possible.

Many believe that high-profile players like Eto’o, Boussoufa, Diarra, Samba and Zhirkov are the only quality footballers in the side, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The rest of the team also consists of very good players and that is one of the reasons why the club from Makhachkala have been absolutely relentless this term.

While climbing to the top of Russian Premier League having taken 29 points from 12 games, Anzhi have won 7 of 8 Europa League games this term, only sharing spoils with Udinese after the Zebrette scored the equalizer deep into injury time.

Given that the visitors take this match much more seriously than their opponents, away win look a great bet at odds of 3.25 (9/4) offered by BetVictor.

Former Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra is out with a knee injury, while Odil Akhmedov is doubtful with an ankle problem.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Gabulov – Agalarov, Tagirbekov, Samba, Zhirkov – Jucilei, Carcela – Boussoufa, Eto’o, Shatov – Traore.