Ajax vs Liverpool – Preview, H2H, Line-ups, Prediction | UCL 2022-23

Mohamed Salah Liverpool Henderson

Liverpool will look to book their place in the knockout round of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League when they travel to Amsterdam on Wednesday to face Ajax.

Venue: Johan Cruijff Arena (Amsterdam) 

Key Statistics

Ajax have won only once across their last nine games against English opposition (D2, L6).

They have lost just one of their last seven home games (W5, D1).

The hosts have scored eleven goals in their last two games.

Liverpool have won just one of their away games this season (D2, L4).

The Reds have won their last three UCL games.

They are unbeaten in their last 16 encounters with clubs from the Netherlands (W11, D5).

All of Ajax’s last eight matches have seen both teams find the net.

Head to head

In five UCL meetings between both sides, Liverpool have three wins and one draw while Ajax have one win.

Latest performances in all competitions

Ajax: W-W-L-W-L 

Liverpool: L-W-W-W-L

Ajax 

Despite opening their UEFA Champions League campaign with a huge 4-0 win over Rangers, Ajax find themselves at the edge of being thrown out of the group stage of the tournament.

The Dutch giants have endured an underwhelming UCL campaign having lost their last three games. First, Liverpool beat them 2-1 at Anfield before they suffered an embarrassing 10-1 aggregate loss to Napoli in rounds three and four.

As a result, they come into this fixture sitting third in Group A, six points behind their visitors. The result of this fixture will determine if they will play UCL football next year or if they will settle for a place in the Europa League.

Win here by a good margin, and they stand a chance of pipping the Reds to second place behind Napoli. But that will also require them to beat Rangers in the next match. But should they fail to win, it will be all over for them in the UCL, although they could secure Europa League football with a draw, if Napoli wins against Rangers in the other Group A fixture.

Having won their last two Eredivisie games by a combined score of 11-2, Alfred Schreuder’s men will be feeling good about themselves winning this game against a Liverpool team that have been poor in their travels.

Possible Ajax starting line-up

Remko Pasveer; Devyne Rensch, Jurrien Timber, Calvin Bassey, Daley Blind; Edson Álvarez, Davy Klaassen, Steven Berghuis; Dusan Tadic, Mohammed Kudus, Steven Bergwijn.

Injured: Kenneth Taylor, Ahmetcan Kaplan

Doubtful: None 

Suspended: None 

Liverpool 

Just when they thought they had turned their poor season around, calamity struck again last weekend for Liverpool.

The Reds who have had their worst start to a season under Jurgen Klopp fell to another disappointing defeat last Saturday when they were beaten 1-0 by Premier League bottom side Nottingham Forest.

The loss ended a run of three straight wins for the visitors who had recorded huge wins over Rangers, Manchester City and West Ham.

The result means that Liverpool are completely out of the Premier League title race while they have a mountain to climb to recover in the top four race.

But they will now pick themselves up and try to make the most of their chance in the Champions League where they are currently on a three-game-winning run. The sox-time UCL winners began this season’s UCL campaign with a disappointing 4-1 loss to Napoli but picked themselves up to record three straight wins, including a 7-1 win over Rangers last time out.

Having not suffered back-to-back defeats since last season, they will fancy their chances of bouncing back and getting a result that will secure passage into the knockout round. With a six-point lead over Ajax, Liverpool only need a draw to book their place in the next round.

Possible Liverpool starting line-up

Alisson Becker; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson; Henderson, Harvey Elliott; Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino.

Injured: Diogo Jota, Joel Matip, Luis Diaz, Arthur, Naby Keita

Doubtful: Thiago Alcantara, Ibrahima Konate, Darwin Nunez

Suspended: None 

Prediction

Ajax 1-1 Liverpool