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 Saturday’s Barclays Premier League encounter between Liverpool & Wigan Athletic. The game is scheduled to be played on Saturday the 24th of March 2012 at 3PM. Because it is a 3PM kick-off, English television won’t be showing the game live. However, streams for the game are posted before & during the game. Preview. The 3PM Saturday fixtures are back after the midweek games and Liverpool face Wigan in one of them. This is a vital game for both sides with Liverpool looking to address a poor run of form in the league and Wigan need the points to try and claw themselves out of the relegation battle they find themselves in. The home side, Liverpool, have had a mixed season. There has been success in the cups so far with the Carling Cup already won and a trip to Wembley for the semi-finals of the F.A already booked. After six years without a trophy, these have been good signs for Liverpool. However, the league campaign so far has been poor. Currently sitting 7th in the Premier and 5 points behind Newcastle in 6th wasn’t what the Liverpool fans had in mind at the start of the season. The main problem this season has been the lack of goals and poor home form. Liverpool only scored 35 goals this season and the fact that Liverpool haven’t been able to put the ball in the net has had a significant effect on the league form. The recent form hasn’t been great either. After losing three Premier League games on the trot for the first time since 2003, Liverpool produced an excellent response by beating Everton 3-0 in the Merseyside derby. The hope was that Liverpool could kick on and take some steps forward. This didn’t happen. Despite being two goals up against Q.P.R, Liverpool threw away this lead and lost the game 3-2. This has resulted in a ‘One step forward, two steps back’ issue in the league and this needs to be addressed. A home win over Wigan would be a good start. The away side, Wigan Athletic, have had another season of struggle. Currently sitting 19th in the league and are 3 points off safety, Roberto Martinez finds his side in another relegation battle. This, of course, is to be expected with the budget that they work with. As I see it, Wigan have problems at both ends of the pitch. Up-front, they have just 25 goals this season (The worst scoring record in the league) and their top scorer is Franco Di Santo with just 4 goals in all competitions. At the back, they have conceded 54 goals. The goalkeeper, Ali Al Hasbi, is a good goalkeeper but the defence in front of him hasn’t given him enough protection and the goal difference has taken a hit. Despite all of this, Wigan are only 3 points off safety and could yet pull off another escape from relegation to the Championship. They have picked up two points in their past two games and in their last game, West Bromwich Albion at home, they had many chances but weren’t able to beat Ben Foster in the West Brom goal. Wigan know what to do in relegation situations and that experience could ensure another season of Premier League football. With the season coming to an end, this is a must win game for both sides! Should set it up for a great game. Three Key Battles! please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image 1) Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel & Wigan striker Franco Di Santo. 2) Liverpool midfielder Jay Spearing & Wigan midfielder Mohamed Diame. 3) Liverpool striker Luis Suarez & Wigan defender Gary Caldwell. Injury News. Liverpool. Charlie Adam: Knock. Jack Robinson: Ankle/Foot Injury. Craig Bellamy: Knock. Glen Johnson: Hamstring Injury. Daniel Agger: Fractured Rib. Lucas Leiva: ACL Knee Injury. Wigan Athletic. Hugo Rodallega: Knee Injury. David Jones: Knee Injury. Mike Pollitt: Shoulder Injury. Liverpool 1 - 1 Wigan Athletic Goalscorers: Wigan Athletic... Shaun Maloney: 31st minute. (Penalty) Liverpool... Luis Suarez: 47th minute. Liverpool: Reina Flanagan Carragher Skrtel Enrique Shelvey Gerrard Spearing Sterling Suarez Carroll SUBS: Doni Coates Henderson Eccleston Kuyt Downing Aurelio Jordan Henderson off and Andy Carroll is on: 45th minute. Stewart Downing off and Jonjo Shelvey is on: 73rd minute. Dirk Kuyt off and Raheem Sterling is on: 84th minute. Wigan Athletic.: Al Habsi Alcaraz Caldwell Boyce Figueroa Watson McCarthy McArthur Crusat Maloney Sammon SUBS: Kirkland Thomas Moses Beausejour Gomez Di Santo Stam Victor Moses off and Albert Crusat is on: 42nd minute. Jean Beausejour off and Ben Watson is on: 62nd minute. Franco Di Santo off and Connor Sammon is on: 81st minute. YNWA. NOTE: Credit has to go to SuperJackWilshere19 for the three key battles feature. I saw a three key match ups section on the Arsenal match thread he creates and I thought it was a great idea. So i've 'borrowed' it for our match thread!
If Kelly isn't fit, Flanagan should come in. There is no point in playing a centre-back (Skrtel) at right-back if we've got a right-back in Flanagan at the club and has played in the first-team.
7-0, Carroll hatrick, Suarez to grab two, Gerrard to grab one and Downing from 40 yards out. Go put your money on it lads
If ever there was a game I would not watch Kenny royally **** up again it will be this one. I would rather slit my wrists.
A quick update on the injury front... Kenny has said he expects Martin Kelly to be fit for tomorrow's game and that he'lll give a late fitness test to Charlie Adam. No news on Bellamy though. Source: http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/kelly-and-adam-injury-update
This, they seem to be our bogey team in the past few years. Always find a way to take points off of us. [video=youtube;aEDpIfNdDE8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEDpIfNdDE8[/video]
Kelly should be fit. If not, we have Flanagan. Failing that then Carragher would be moved over before Skrtel. Basically, Skrtel is fourth in line at present, fifth if you include Johnson!
I wouldn't say Di Santo for this battle, Rodegella always seem to play well against us so I would have gone with him.
I was gonna put Rodallega but according to http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php, which is the website where I get all of the injury news for the main post, he is injured. Knee injury and there isn't a return date.
