Swansea City Vs Liverpool
September 16, 2013 8:00 PM (UK)
Liberty Stadium — Swansea
Referee: M. Oliver
Liverpool are on the verge of making history tonight as a win could rewrite history. The Anfield club have never started a Premier League season with four consecutive wins and three points against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium will put them at the top of table and it will also bring their 400th win in the Premier League. It will be manager Brendan Rodgers’ trip back to Swansea, the team he managed before joining the Merseyside club a season ago.
The Reds will head into the clash knowing that at Everton are the only side in the Premier League who are yet to taste defeat and will want to get the better of their Merseyside rivals which will also push them to the top. But Rodgers will have a host of injury problems that he needs to get past.
Team News:
Liverpool’s star man Daniel Sturridge, who have scored all the three winning goals, is a doubt for this match with a thigh injury that kept him out of the England squad in the world cup qualifiers. In his absence Iago Aspas is expected to play as the lone striker and much would rest on the former Celta Vigo man.
The other thing that would worry the manager is the injury to Glen Johnson, that he sustained in their last league match against Manchester United. Kolo Toure and Joe Allen are also in the recovering phase, though the manager hopes to get both of their services for this game. Brendan Rodgers may also look at the possibilities of handing over debut caps to new recruits Victor Moses and Mamadou Sakho, but it still remains a question mark.
Swansea, on the other hand, have not had the best of starts this season winning just one among their three matches which came against West Brom. Manager Michael Laudrup is aware of this and stated “We have a very difficult start. That’s why West Brom was so important.”
He almost has the full squad to select from although Neil Taylor will be on the sidelines due to a thigh injury. Former Liverpool man Jonjo Shelvey is also uncertain to feature in today’s match while Nathan Dyer will have to give a fitness test before he can take the field. Michu who was outstanding last season is yet to make an impression this term and the Welsh club would be hoping for some contributions from him.
Match Facts:
- Swansea City have won none and lost four of their last six Barclays Premier League home games.
- Liverpool have won their first three games of a top-flight season whilst keeping a clean sheet in each game, for the first time in their history.
- Daniel Sturridge has scored 11 goals in his last nine appearances in all competitions for Liverpool.
- Sturridge is only the second Liverpool player to score in each of the opening three games of a Premier League season (after Robbie Fowler in 1994/95).
- Only Yaya Toure (267) has attempted more passes so far this season than Swansea’s summer signing Jose Canas (235).
- Chico has made a joint-division-high 33 clearances so far this season in the Barclays Premier League
Considering all these facts, Liverpool are slightly ahead of Swansea today and the Welsh team have to work really hard to set the stage for an upset.
Possible Line-ups:
Swansea City: Vorm; Rangel, Williams, Chico, Davies; Routledge, Shelvey, Canas, Hernandez; Michu; Bony
Liverpool: Mignolet; Wisdom, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique; Gerrard, Lucas; Henderson, Coutinho, Aspas; Sturridge
Prediction: Swansea 1-2 Liverpool
Blast From The Past:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dZFmBATostk