Chris Sutton explains his prediction for Liverpool FC v Leicester City

Chris Sutton is backing Liverpool FC to sign off for the year with a 3-1 victory over Leicester City in front of their home fans at Anfield in the Premier League.

The Reds claimed a 3-1 victory away to Aston Villa on Boxing Day to make it three wins on the spin in the Premier League as Jurgen Klopp’s men look to boost their hopes of finishing in the top four this season.

The Merseyside outfit have already begun their January spending by completing a move to sign Netherlands attacker Cody Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven in a deal reported to be worth around £35.4m to £44.3m.

Gakpo, 23, was one of the Netherlands’ stars of the World Cup and he will officially join the Reds when the January transfer window opens, on a contract which runs until the summer of 2028.

However, attentions at Anfield will now be on their home clash against a Leicester City side who have won three out of their last five games in the English top flight.

Former Chelsea FC star Sutton feels that Liverpool FC will have what it takes to claim all three points against the Foxes and sign off for the year on a positive note.

Writing in his column for BBC Sport, Sutton said: “Cody Gakpo is an excellent signing for Liverpool and I’m looking forward to seeing how he fits into their attack when his deal goes through in January.

“I wrongly thought Liverpool would slip up against Aston Villa in their last game – Villa did have some chances but the Reds ended up winning comfortably.

“Jurgen Klopp’s side are going to be pushing hard for the top four in the new year and I think they will end 2022 with a win too.

“James Maddison’s knee injury is a concern for Leicester but I still think they will get a goal at Anfield – I just think Liverpool will score more than them.”

Gakpo scored three goals in five games for the Netherlands at the World Cup and also netted nine goals and made 12 assists in 14 league games for PSV this term.

And Liverpool FC boss Klopp has expressed his delight that the Reds were able to quickly conclude a deal to bring the attacker to Anfield ahead of the January transfer window.

“We know what we want to do and we will see if we can do it,” Klopp said this week. “It’s about money, of course, but it’s more about how it always was – about the right players. And we are really, really happy that we could get Cody.

“He is a young player with a lot of potential. If he would have already been scoring 40 goals in Spain or whatever he would be unaffordable. These kind of things are all about timing, getting these boys at the right moment that they didn’t already score 55 goals per season and stuff like this.

“That’s why we were really convinced he could make the next step, and that makes it interesting. We believe in our process, when players come here – especially offensive players – they have all made a step forward because of the way we work and the way we can help them. That makes it massively interesting.”