Stepping out onto the Ceramica turf has been a difficult proposition for a plethora of sides in recent months, but Villarreal offered little to nothing in attack at Anfield and have been hit with injuries to the forward line at the worst possible time.
While Liverpool may find it slightly trickier to assert their dominance away from their Anfield fortress, a refreshed side looking almost unstoppable right now should book their spot in the final with minimal difficulty.
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Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Liverpool win with a probability of 47.86%. A draw had a probability of 26.7% and a win for Villarreal had a probability of 25.48%.
The most likely scoreline for a Liverpool win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.91%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.29%) and 1-2 (9.03%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.55%), while for a Villarreal win it was 1-0 (8.73%). The actual scoreline of 2-3 was predicted with a 2.1% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Liverpool would win this match.