Fresh from the last-gasp victory over QPR, Liverpool take on Champions League holders Real Madrid hoping to improve their chances of reaching the knockout stages.

Meanwhile, los Blancos have been pretty outstanding on all fronts of late, and they are clearly the favourites to win at Anfield.

While largely impressing last season when they narrowly missed out on the Premier League title, Liverpool have experienced all sorts of problems this term and this is by no means a surprise.

The Reds did sign a number of quality players this summer, but they failed to find a proper replacement for Luis Suarez, with Daniel Sturridge’s injury making things worse.

And with Mario Balotelli utterly disappointing in the opening exchanges, Liverpool were unable to hit the ground running early on.

It is team’s impressive midfield area and players like Coutinho, Sterling, Lallana and Gerrard that have been both creating chances are converting them, with two own goals scored by QPR players proving the difference in the weekend’s firecracker at Loftus Road.

It remains to be seen whether Brendan Rodgers will drop Mario Balotelli following yet another poor performance, but either way, odds of 4.50 (7/2) offered on home win do not look too tempting.

The good new is the manager has no fresh injury worries, with Alberto Moreno, Philippe Coutinho and Javi Manquillo likely to be recalled.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Mignolet – Manquillo, Skrtel, Lovren, Moreno – Gerrard, Henderson – Sterling, Coutinho, Lallana – Balotelli.

Real Madrid needed a while to get going this season, but they have since showed incredible improvement and they arrive at Anfield in championship form.

Los Blancos have been absolutely brilliant of late, winning last seven encounters in all competitions and scoring magnificent 32 goals.

The bad news is they still trail La Liga leaders Barcelona by four points, but weekend’s El Clasico will be a perfect opportunity to close the gap.

Meanwhile, they have won both Champions League fixtures, hammering Basel before recording hard-fought triumph over Ludogorets and they are 1.87 (20/23) favourites to win at Anfield.

Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale misses out through injury, with Isco set to replace him in the starting line-up.

Karim Benzema and Raphael Varane are back in contention, while Sami Khedira is set to make the trip to Anfield, even if he is unlikely to feature.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Casillas – Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo – Isco, Kroos, Modric – James, Benzema, Ronaldo.