Text here to move the logo across. please log in to view this image Vs please log in to view this image Hello and welcome to the official Not606 match thread for Tuesday’s Barclays Premier League encounter between Liverpool & Fulham. The game is scheduled to be played at Anfield on Tuesday the 1st of May 2012 at 7.45PM. The game is not scheduled to be shown on English TV but streams are normally posted before and during the game. BBC Radio Five Live will have the radio rights to the game. Preview. Both Liverpool & Fulham had contrasting results away from home in their last fixtures and the two sides now meet at Anfield on Tuesday. Liverpool come into this game on the back of an excellent 3-0 win at Norwich. Luis Suarez grabbed his first-hat trick for Liverpool as they got back to winning ways in style. Fulham travelled to Liverpool’s Merseyside rivals Everton and were outclassed. Fulham’s dismal away record continued as they were beaten 4-0 with bang in-form Nikica Jelavic grabbing two. The home side, Liverpool, have seemed to improve of late. 3 wins in their past 4, including a victory over rivals Everton in the F.A Cup semi-final, have meant that Liverpool seem to be ending the season with an air of respectability. Saturday’s 3-0 victory at Carrow Road saw Liverpool finally put the ball in the back of net. Let’s look at the defeat to West Brom on the 22nd of April... 28 shots. No goals. And fast forward 6 days to the victory over Norwich... 15 shots. Three goals. A much better chance conversion rate and this will be crucial to Liverpool’s chances. Fulham’s defence, as you would expect, will be strong with just 23 goals (The same as Liverpool) conceded away from home. However, Fulham’s overall away record hasn’t been great with just 3 wins and 11 goals scored away from the Cottage. This will give Liverpool hope that they can improve on a pretty poor home record. However, with the F.A Cup final looming, Liverpool look likely to make some changes to the side. Players like Steven Gerrard & Luis Suarez could be rested to make sure that they are fit and firing for the cup final. This will give other players a chance to stake a claim for a cup final place. The big man up front, Andy Carroll, has recovered from a ‘slight niggle in his groin’ and could be expected to lead the line. Jay Spearing could also be brought back into the side and Maxi Rodriguez can also take a claim for a place against Fulham. The away side, Fulham, don’t have great memories of Merseyside. The West London side have never won a game away at either Liverpool or Everton in the top-flight. However, Fulham have had another impressive season. Currently sitting 9th in the Premier League, Fulham are only 3 points behind Liverpool and have a chance to move level on points with Liverpool with a win tomorrow. Fulham have brought astutely in the transfer market and the Russian Pavel Pogrebnyak has been one of Martin Jol’s best signings and will be a big threat to the Liverpool backline. Having been brought in January, eyebrows were raised about a striker who had only got 1 goal in 14 games for Stuttgart in the first part of the season. However, many people were proved wrong as Pogrebnyak has 6 goals in 9 starts for Fulham and he has been a key player up front for Fulham. However, the big threat for Fulham will be Clint Dempsey. Dempsey has enjoyed another excellent season. The American has 22 goals in 44 games and 16 in the Premier League. Liverpool know all about Dempsey as it was his goal that sealed a 1-0 victory for Fulham in the reserve fixture. It's also worth noting the return of a couple of players to Anfield with the Fulham side. Alex Kacaniklic left Liverpool as part of the deal to bring Paul Konchesky to Anfield and the highly-rated youngster impressed on a loan spell to Watford and has been a part of Fulham's matchday squads of late. And ex-Liverpool left-back John Arne Riise can expect a good reception on his return to Anfield. The left-back spent seven years at Liverpool and became a fans favourite during his time and has a vicious left-foot that Liverpool need to be aware of. Despite some people thinking that this game means not too much considering their respective league positions, both Martin Jol, Kenny Dalglish and most of the fans will disagree with that statement. Pride, league positions and form going into the final games of the season will be very important to both sides. Should be good! Injury News. Liverpool. Charlie Adam: Knee Injury. Lucas Leiva: ACL Knee Injury. Fulham. Stephen Kelly: Thumb/Wrist Injury. Bryan Ruiz: Metatarsal Fracture. Steve Sidwell: Inguinal Hernia. Zdenek Grygera: Knee Injury. Injury news taken from http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php. Please inform me, via a post in this thread, if any of the news is incorrect. Liverpool 0 - 1 Fulham Goalscorers: Fulham... Martin Skrtel (Own Goal): 5th minute. Liverpool: Doni - Kelly Skrtel Coates Enrique - Downing Spearing Shelvey Maxi Sterling - Carroll SUBS: Jones Flanagan Carragher Robinson Aurelio Henderson Kuyt Jordan Henderson off and Stewart Downing is on: 45th minute. Fabio Aurelio off and Jose Enrique is on: 65th minute. Dirk Kuyt off and Raheem Sterling is on: 76th minute. Fulham: Schwarzer - Kelly Baird Hangeland Hughes Riise - Duff Murphy Etuhu Frei - Dempsey SUBS: Stockdale Orlando Sa Kasami Pogrebnyak Kacaniklic Briggs Dembele Alex Kacaniklic off and Kerim Frei is on: 58th minute. Pavel Pogrebnyak off and Dickson Etuhu is on: 80th minute. Moussa Dembele off and Chris Baird is on: 86th minute. YNWA.
A couple of pre-match facts and figures. Head-To-Head. Fulham's 1-0 win over Liverpool in December was only their fourth over the Reds in 21 Premier League encounters. The Cottagers have failed to score in six of their last nine Premier League games against Liverpool. Liverpool beat Fulham 10-0 in a League Cup second-round match at Anfield in 1986. Liverpool. Their win over Norwich was only their third victory in their last 12 top-flight matches (W3, D2, L7). They have only won one of their last seven league matches at Anfield. The last time Liverpool finished outside the top eight in the top flight was when they ended up bottom of the league in 1953/54 and were relegated. Fulham. Fulham have never won in 41 top-flight league visits to Merseyside to play either Liverpool or Everton. Their loss to Everton on Saturday was their 19th consecutive top-flight defeat at Everton, which extends the record for most successive away defeats by one club at another. They started with 11 non-English players at Goodison Park, meaning they are the only club to do this three times this season ahead of Arsenal (twice) and Wigan (once). Aaron Hughes is poised to make his 200th start for Fulham.
Hope Sterling gets a game, if Carroll has any doubt with a niggle , leave him out. More or less the second 11 should play Kelly,Aurelio,Coates,Maxi,etc
I can't see us winning this, full concentration for the match at the weekend. I wouldn't be surprised at a team playing where no one but Reina plays that are playing in the final and maybe Spearing, as he will want a defensive midfielder for the final. Sterling might be on the bench, nothing more. Something like: -----------------Reina Kelly-----Skrtel--------Coates------Aurelio Kuyt-----Spearing------Henderson-----Maxi ----------Bellamy------Carroll 1-1 prediction
Possible Fulham Line up Schwarzer Kelly---Hughes---Hangeland ---Riise Dempsey---Dembele---Murphy---Diarra----Duff Pogrebnyak Kelly has been out injured and Hughes might have to play RB but rumour says Senderos was injured Saturday, and not just taken off cause he was useless so may be Baird will come into partner Hangeland. Would be nice to see Kacaniklic play against his old team, maybe instead of Duff but think Jol may leave him on the bench along with Frei. With our history at Anfield can't really see a victory so will go for a hopeful 1-1 draw
Would Love this team to play tonight: reina Kelly, Coates, Carragher, Enrique Henderson, Shelvey, Suso Kuyt, bellamy, Sterling..... Not going to happen though, so ill stop speaking crap momentairily.... As per usual great thread Chris...Cheers
2-0 loss good result, followed by bad result, followed by cup game that gets us abck on track to go back off track
I think myself and a lot of other fans would also like to see a similar side start also, it wouldnt do any harm ,but Kenny only playes the young uns when hes forced to do so
I think that we - i.e. Fulham - have our best chance in ages to win at Anfield. We were poor on Saturday, but often follow a poor performance with a good one, Liverpool must have an eye on the FA cup final on Saturday and their home form has been very varied - so fingers crossed......but even a draw will be good! Perhaps your guys might still be hung over after the celebrations of that result last night!! By the way - great thread Chris and good to see a board for a club so well supported.
Cheers for calling in, our Chris always does a great thread. We don't pay him enough. You could be right about tonight. I've given up trying to predict how we're likely to approach each game so I'll just wait and see. If you'd stuffed our cousins at the weekend I'd have been content with a point each, but they'll be insufferable if they finish the season on top of us. We still need the points, imo, but whether the team shares that sense of urgency I don't know. I hope it's a good, entertaining game whatever happens.
Liverpool Team To Face Fulham. Doni, Kelly, Skrtel (c), Coates, Aurelio, Henderson, Shelvey, Spearing, Maxi, Kuyt, Carroll. SUBS: Sterling, Downing, Robinson, Enrique, Flanagan, Carragher, Jones. So, lots of changes made for tonight's game. The back five is completely different to Saturday with Aurelio getting a rare start at left-back & Doni gets the nod in goal. Shelvey gets another game in the middle as Carroll returns from injury to partner Kuyt up-front. Oh and Sterling is on the bench!
