Liverpool travel north of the border for a ‘Battle of Britain’ clash with Scottish Premier League club Heart of Midlothian in the Europa League play-off round, first leg at Tynecastle Stadium in Edinburgh on Thursday night.

Brendan Rodgers’ side got their Premier League campaign off to the worst possible start when they slumped to a 3-0 defeat against West Bromwich Albion but the Reds are hot favourites here, with Paddy Power making them 1/2 (1.50) favourites to triumph in Scotland.

The Jam Tarts were thumped 5-0 in the home leg of this competition last year by Tottenham Hotspur and John McGlynn’s side will be desperate to give a better account of themselves this time around having drawn  English opposition again.

The 2012 Scottish Cup winners are chalked up at 11/2 (6.50) with Paddy Power to stun their English visitors with victory while the same firm offer 11/4 (3.75) that the Tynecastle tie ends in a stalemate.

If Rodgers were to field his strongest side, they will be clear favourites to win in Edinburgh but even with some rotation the 13/10 (2.30) quote from Paddy Power for Liverpool to lead at both half-time and full-time looks to be a very solid price.

Especially so considering that Spurs led 3-0 by the interval away from home last season. Even if Rodgers leaves the likes of Gerrard, Suarez and Johnson in reserve for the weekend clash with Manchester City, his side will be confident of victory.

The Jambos have lost several key players over the summer including talismanic midfielder Rudi Skacel, who scored 18 goals for the Gorgie club last season – including two in the Jam Tarts’ 5-1 demolition of capital rivals Hibernian in May’s Scottish Cup final – and may find the step up in class to be too much here.

After the opening day defeat at the Hawthorns, Rodgers will be desperate to see his side produce the goods here and the Reds are priced up at 9/2 (5.50) with Paddy Power to win 1-0 while a 2-1 win is chalked up at 7/1 (8.0) with the same firm.

Should Hearts spring a surprise, Paddy Power offer a chunky 14/1 (15.0) for a 1-0 home win while a 2-1 home win is an 18/1 (19.0) shot with the same firm.

The home side possess a genuine attacking threat in the shape of wingers David Templeton and Andrew Driver and are capable of penetrating the Reds’ shaky defence so the 8/11 (1.73) for the Scottish side to net at any stage is worthy of consideration here.

Brendan Rodgers’ side, though, should be capable of surviving a bumpy night in Edinburgh and can be backed to emerge victorious.

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Willie Duncan is a freelance sports journalist. Willie, from Edinburgh, has covered Scottish football for over 10 years and he specialises in football betting markets from across Europe. You can also follow Willie on Twitter

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers insists his players have shown no signs of complacency since his arrival and admitted that Thursday’s game against Hearts may prove a tricky one.

The Reds travel to Edinburgh to face the Scottish side in the Europa League after comfortably dispatching FC Gomel 4-0 on aggregate, while Hearts were thumped 5-0 by Tottenham at this stage last season.

Rodgers’ honeymoon period with the club was over inside 90 minutes at the Hawthorns on Saturday though, as the Reds slumped to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Steve Clarke’s West Brom side.

But Rodgers says his players have responded well in training.

“It’s certainly something that I’ve noticed in my short time here, that they are allergic to complacency,” he told reporters.

“There is no question about that. They focus every day and their concentration is good. They’ll understand the size of the task in terms of coming here and having to play well.”

The Scottish club haven’t brought in any new signings in spite of a huge clearout at Tynecastle amidst sweeping cutbacks, but the new boss at Anfield believes John McGlynn’s side will be looking to make amends for last season’s disappointment against Spurs.

He added: “I think Hearts will be better for that experience. They might have some regrets from last year.

“The game was over early on and it left them with an uphill task going forward. I’m sure they will be right up for this game.”

Rodgers has only been able to bring in two fresh faces on Merseyside since his arrival from Swansea, signing midfielder Joe Allen and former Swan Fabio Borini from Roma.

Daniel Agger was dismissed by Phil Dowd for a professional foul on Shane Long at the weekend, and with a fairly small squad Rodgers also revealed that the Europa League is the perfect opportunity to blood some of the club’s youngsters.

“We’ve got a very small squad to be fair so I’ve got to try to protect some of the players,” he added.

“We played for over half an hour with 10 men on Saturday as well and we’ve got a massive game at the weekend.

“I trust my players, I trust the group and whatever team we put out will always be to win the game.

“We want to do well in the competition but it’s a great opportunity for me to see the young players mixed in along with some of the experienced players.”

Kenny Dalglish clinched the League Cup and reached the FA Cup final last season, but was dismissed at the end of the campaign after finishing eighth in the Premier League. Liverpool finished four points below neighbours Everton in a disastrous season, which saw them beaten on four occasions in the league at Anfield.

And despite defeat on the opening day, Rodgers confirmed that the league was the club’s main priority.

He added: “Our main objective is the league – there is no question about that.

“When you work at Liverpool – whether as a player or manager – every game is important.

“It’s a very important game for us, we want to do well. The objective over the two games is to get through to the group stages.

“It’s certainly a game we want to win and we want to qualify over the course of the two games. We will pick strong teams that we think can do that.”

Southampton’s pursuit of Bologna midfielder Gaston Ramirez has come to an unsuccessful end, according to the player’s agent.

The south-coast side were believed to have agreed a fee with the Serie A club and terms with the player several days ago, but Saints’ proposal has since been rejected.

It had looked as though the newly promoted team had pulled off a major coup by landing the highly rated Uruguayan from under the noses of Champions League-chasing sides Liverpool and Tottenham.

“The negotiations with Southampton have ended,” Ramirez’s agent, Oscar Betancourt, told calciomercatoweb.it.

“Bologna didn’t want to close the deal without the bank guarantees. I have spoken [on Wednesday] with the English club’s chairman and they are looking at another target.

“The player was very happy with the offer received, but now he will probably remain at Bologna.”

Betancourt also revealed that it is unlikely that either Liverpool or Tottenham will now return with bids for his client.

“Tottenham is an option to be rejected at this time because they are a long way short of Bologna’s demands,” he added.

“Liverpool? They have never presented a concrete offer.”

The president of Bologna, Albano Guaraldi, had earlier thrown doubt on the proposed moved by stating that Southampton’s offer “had not been considered suitable”.