Trip To Craven Cottage

on
Most people hate him now after his Chelsea own goal but i still love the big Norweigan!...
Liverpool make the long trip down to Fulham for a Monday night fixture this week. The Reds have just come off the back of a 2-0 win over Chelsea in the League Cup and are in fighting form at the moment. Fulham however suffered defeat to FC Twente in the week and have to go back to October for a win in the Premier League.

Injuries for Liverpool mean that Steven Gerrard is once again unavailable and after the terrible news on Lucas Leiva, we now know the Brazilian will miss the rest of the campaign.

For Fulham Damien Duff will be unavailable for manager Martin Jol and doubts hang over Dembele and Dempsey but Fulham are hoping they will be fit enough to start.

Most people will vividly remember the last clash between the two sides. The 5-2 victory last season for Liverpool was a hell of a game, Maxi Rodriguez even grabbed a hat trick. We don't have to go too far back to find a Fulham win at home though, the Cottagers beat us in 2009 on Halloween the confident, 3-1 win certainly left Liverpool in shock.

Stat Sandwich

  • The Reds are unbeaten in their last 11 games in all competitions.
  • Fulham have only won 1 of their last 8 games at Craven Cottage.
  • Luis Suarez on average has 8.2 touches of the ball per game inside the opposition penalty area, the best tally in the league.

With the comparison of form for the two teams this looks like a winner on paper for Liverpool but as we've seen already this season, sometimes it's the teams further down the table or the teams on a bad run of form that become a stumbling block for the Reds.

I hate to say it but in the back of my mind i can see this one being a draw. Players like Danny Murphy and John Arne Riise have a point to prove as always against their ex employers and if Dempsey and Dembele do make the start things could get tough for Liverpool.

If we get out the blocks quickly and grab an early goal i think we'll be ok but if the minutes start to tick by and we're hitting the bar and post with stacks of chances I'm gonna start getting worried.

It will be interesting to see how Dalglish lays out the midfield tomorrow, i personally would like to see Henderson given a chance in the centre because he seems to prefer the central role and is improved in that position i feel. However, Dalglish also has the option of Spearing, Shelvey etc.

Either way i think it will be a good game to spice up our Monday evenings.

Just a quick thing to end on folks, if i could gently guide you in the direction of this link. It's a radio show made regularly by @Russ_Goldman who is a big Fulham fan from the States. Within the show there is a preview for the Liverpool game with guest Richard Buxton who some of you may know from the website Click Liverpool. If you get chance have a listen!