Fulham v Liverpool Team news (Premier league)
Liverpool will have to play the remainder of the two games without Captain Steven Gerrard and defender Daniel Agger. Gerrard has been scheduled to have an operation on a shoulder problem this weekend while the Danish centre-back Agger will undergo a series of injections in his back as part of a long-planned rehabilitation programme. Other Absentees will include Striker Luis Suarez who is serving his 10-match ban and midfielder Joe Allen who is recovering after his surgery while youngster Martin Kelly continues his rehabilitation process from his knee operation.
For Fulham, Petric is back in the side after missing last week’s game. Riise is likely to start ahead of Richardson at Left-back, being the more defensively solid of the two, while Riether should retain his Right-back spot. Else where it is expected that Martin Jol will start the same team that played against Reading last week.
Possible line-ups today:
Fulham [4-2-3-1]: Schwarzer (GK); Riether, Senderos, Hangeland, Riise; Enoh, Karagounis; Duff, Ruiz, Emanuelson; Berbatov.
Liverpool [4-2-3-1]: Reina (GK); Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Enrique; Lucas, Henderson; Borini, Coutinho, Downing; Sturridge.
Cristian Tello to Arsenal and Liverpool
This season has been pretty poor for both Arsenal and Liverpool and in the summer transfer season, both Arsene Wenger and Brendan Rodgers would be looking to reinforce their teams with new players. While Wenger urgently needs a striker for his team, Rodgers, after hitting the jackpot with his January signing, will be looking for more players like Coutinho. Although the season is yet to get over and the transfer window is a little far, both the managers have already identified a few potential targets and would not want to waste any time in finalising their transfers. One such player is Cristian Tello of Barcelona who has been linked with both these clubs and whose transfer to the Premier League now seems just a matter of time.
21 year Tello who has sparked in the limited opportunities that he has got for the Spanish giants, reportedly wants a move away for his lack of playing time ahead of Messi and Pedro. But in the limited time that he has spent on the field, he has scored eight goals for his club and the two Premier League managers would certainly want to cash on this talent.
Tello can play both as a forward and as a winger which would suit both this clubs. While Arsenal can solve their striker problems as well as deploy him in the midfield alongside fellow Spanish international Cazorla, Liverpool can play him alongside Coutinho in the midfield and reap the benefits of a Coutinho-Tello-Suarez partnership. His experience of playing in the Champions League would also help both the clubs and make him a valuable member of the squad.
But the biggest draw of Cristian Tello is the price at which he can be acquired. Tello has a release clause of £8.5m and this would be a huge advantage for both the clubs to get such a quality player at such a cheap rate. Even Barcelona is also aware of his release clause and the advancements from other clubs.
As it stands now Arsenal and Liverpool have to compete against each other for his signing and it looks like we have another epic transfer saga on the cards.