Liverpool take on Burnley at Anfield as the Premier League resumes after the International break.
This is a must win game for Liverpool already with them being 6 points behind leaders Chelsea.
With no fresh injuries reported (so far) from players away with their country the only players who could be a doubt are Lucas and Mascherano who have been to the other side of the world with Brazil and Argentina respectively. The duo are not due back into the UK until the early hours of tomorrow. Gaffer Benitez will assess their fitness before deciding if both will feature or not.
LFC got some good defensive news when full back Fabio Aurellio came through a reserve game in midweek and will go straight into the match squad.
Saturdays visitors Burnley played well against Utd and rode their luck but were poor against Chelsea so let’s hope they keep up that kind of form. That said, Burnley have nothing to lose so they can relax a bit more which can’t be said for Liverpool whose crowd will expect nothing less than 3 points and a hatful of goals. Burnley will come to play and wont park the bus in front of the goal which should aid Liverpool. Away goals have been hard to come by for Burnley who have yet to score on their travels but will surely fancy their chances against a Liverpool team that has uncharacteristically leaked 7 in 4 games.
Liverpool will hope to pick up where they left off against Bolton. The performance wasn’t great but it was all about the result and winning matches breeds confidence. Torres and Gerrard are playing well again and if a much needed Martin Skrtl returns to the defence that will help us improve on our poor defensive record so far.
Liverpool have 6 games coming up in 17 days so they need to find their top form quick. The Champions League campaign kicks off next Wednesday when Debreceni arrive at Anfield. That’s followed by games against West Ham, Hull, Sunderland and Leeds Utd in the Carling Cup.
The good news coming from Melwood is that summer signing Aquilani has been (lightly) pencilled in for the Hull game at Anfield on 26/09/09. This will be great news as Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge the following week which is already looking a must win game. We will need as many as our first team available to take on what’s looking like a title winning side in Chelsea.
My prediction: Liverpool 3-0 Burnley
Posted under Football, LFC
Add A Comment