In his pre-match press conference today, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers urged fans to 'keep faith with the team;, and pointed out that one win means the Reds will be 'back near the top four'. That's only true if no other team plays this weekend, and and it's similarly true that if results go the wrong way, Liverpool could end the weekend 16th in the Premier League table. Clearly, Aston Villa is a must-win game, and LFC surely can't go 7 games without a win...right?
Pre-game news.
* Benteke, Firmino, Henderson, and Lovren will all miss the game.
* Rodgers on Firmino: "He landed awkwardly in the game the other night and there is another scan on his back, but he may have cracked a bone in his back".
* On Benteke: "Christian will probably be out for a little bit of time".
* On Lovren: "He will be out for probably a few weeks with his ligament injury".
* On Sturridge: "It’s great to see him on the training field and the pitch and obviously he’ll be available for tomorrow.”
Sturridge will have had 7 days rest by the time the Villa game kicks off so it'll be great to see him in the starting line-up again. The injuries are unfortunate, but on the plus side, this makes Rodgers' team selection much easier in some areas:
* Sakho will obviously continue alongside Skrtel.
* Coutinho will come in for Firmino.
* £18m-rated Sturridge may play alongside Ings (if Rodgers goes with a top two).
Rodgers seems to be a back-three kick at the moment, so he might as well just stick with it. With that formation, this is the team I'd like to see:
------------------- Bogdan
------ Can ------- Skrtel ------ Sakho
Milner ------- Lucas -- Teixeira ---- Moreno
------------------ Coutinho
-------------- Ings ----- Sturridge
Of course, there's no way that Teixeira will play, but I live in hope. Knowing Rodgers, he'll probably play Lucas, Allen, and Milner in the same team, which is a recipe for turgid, creatively bereft football. There's also a possibility that Rodgers may hand Jordan Rossiter a surprise start, but give the nature of the game, it's doubtful.
Still, whatever team Rodgers puts out, I can't see Liverpool losing this game. The stakes are too high, and the players will surely be desperate to get out of this current slump. According to Anfield legend Mark Lawrenson, the Reds will definitely beat Villa. Predicting a 2-0 win, Lawro told the BBC:
"Will Liverpool beat Villa? Yes. They have caused Liverpool real problems at Anfield in the past few seasons but I cannot see a repeat of that on Saturday".
My prediction: 2-1 LFC
PREDICTION LEAGUE
You have until Saturday 2.55PM (GMT) to get your predictions in. Good luck!
Author: Jaimie K
Pre-game news.
* Benteke, Firmino, Henderson, and Lovren will all miss the game.
* Rodgers on Firmino: "He landed awkwardly in the game the other night and there is another scan on his back, but he may have cracked a bone in his back".
* On Benteke: "Christian will probably be out for a little bit of time".
* On Lovren: "He will be out for probably a few weeks with his ligament injury".
* On Sturridge: "It’s great to see him on the training field and the pitch and obviously he’ll be available for tomorrow.”
Sturridge will have had 7 days rest by the time the Villa game kicks off so it'll be great to see him in the starting line-up again. The injuries are unfortunate, but on the plus side, this makes Rodgers' team selection much easier in some areas:
* Sakho will obviously continue alongside Skrtel.
* Coutinho will come in for Firmino.
* £18m-rated Sturridge may play alongside Ings (if Rodgers goes with a top two).
Rodgers seems to be a back-three kick at the moment, so he might as well just stick with it. With that formation, this is the team I'd like to see:
------------------- Bogdan
------ Can ------- Skrtel ------ Sakho
Milner ------- Lucas -- Teixeira ---- Moreno
------------------ Coutinho
-------------- Ings ----- Sturridge
Of course, there's no way that Teixeira will play, but I live in hope. Knowing Rodgers, he'll probably play Lucas, Allen, and Milner in the same team, which is a recipe for turgid, creatively bereft football. There's also a possibility that Rodgers may hand Jordan Rossiter a surprise start, but give the nature of the game, it's doubtful.
Still, whatever team Rodgers puts out, I can't see Liverpool losing this game. The stakes are too high, and the players will surely be desperate to get out of this current slump. According to Anfield legend Mark Lawrenson, the Reds will definitely beat Villa. Predicting a 2-0 win, Lawro told the BBC:
"Will Liverpool beat Villa? Yes. They have caused Liverpool real problems at Anfield in the past few seasons but I cannot see a repeat of that on Saturday".
My prediction: 2-1 LFC
PREDICTION LEAGUE
You have until Saturday 2.55PM (GMT) to get your predictions in. Good luck!
Author: Jaimie K
0 Comments:
Post a Comment