Watch Liverpool

Posts Tagged ‘guardian-news’

In all the consternation over the likely elimination from the Champions League there was scant time left to remember that Liverpool had dominated their opponents in Lyon before conceding the last-minute equaliser. That should have been encouraging when Fernando Torres was half-fit and Steven Gerrard could not take part. The Englishman might be ready to face a competitive Birmingham side, but Liverpool could also help themselves by regaining some of their old durability in defence. Kevin McCarra

Venue Anfield

Tickets £26-36 (0844 844 0844)

Last season n/a

Referee P Walton

This season’s matches 7 Y19, R1, 2.86 cards per game

sportingbet odds Liverpool 2-7 Birmingham 9-1 Draw 7-2

Liverpool

Subs from Cavalieri, Aquilani, Voronin, Aurélio, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Spearing, Ngog, El Zhar, Dossena, Eccleston, Ayala

Doubtful Aurélio (calf), Dossena (groin), Gerrard (groin), Kelly (ankle), Torres (abdomen)

Injured Riera (hamstring, 21 Nov), Johnson (calf, unknown)

Suspended Carragher (one match), Degen (first of three)

Form guide LWLLWW

Disciplinary record Y15 R3

Leading scorer Torres 10

Birmingham

Subs from Maik Taylor, Phillips, O’Shea, O’Connor, D Johnson, Parnaby, McSheffrey, Queudrue, Tainio, Vignal, Fahey, Espinoza

Doubtful Espinoza (ankle), Fahey (knee), O’Connor (groin)

Injured Martin Taylor (ankle, 21 Nov), Murphy (knee, Dec), Wilson (shoulder, Dec)

Suspended Ferguson (one match)

Form guide DWLLLW

Disciplinary record Y19 R1

Leading scorers Bowyer, McFadden 2

Match pointers

• Birmingham are unbeaten in their last six Premier League meetings with Liverpool

• These sides have met in November nine times in all competitions since 1924 and seven of those encounters have ended in away wins

• Liverpool average one goal per game in matches where Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are both absent

• Lee Bowyer is three bookings short of equalling the Premier League record of 89 in a career set by Robbie Savage

• Emiliano Insúa (height 1.65m) is currently the joint shortest (with Aaron Lennon) player in the division

Premier LeagueLiverpoolBirmingham Cityguardian.co.uk

• Injured Liverpool striker sees specialist in Valencia
• Torres and Steven Gerrard may play against Birmingham

Liverpool’s concerns over the fitness of Fernando Torres have deepened after the striker flew to visit a specialist in Valencia for a second opinion on the hernia problem that has plagued him throughout Liverpool’s desperate run of one win in eight games.

Earlier in the day he had visited a private clinic on Merseyside for a scan on his groin, although that appointment was arranged before his 87-minute appearance against Lyon in the Champions League on Wednesday and has been a post-match routine since he developed the problem on international duty last month.

With Steven Gerrard, who has missed Liverpool’s last four matches with a groin injury, also being assessed on a day-by-day basis, the club have delayed a decision on whether to send the pair for operations in the hope that their captain and leading striker can help lift their season at home to Birmingham City on Monday. The international break which follows that game – it is three weeks before Liverpool play again in Europe – affords the club an opportunity to soften the impact should either Torres or Gerrard fail to improve.

“Fernando played with pain, and after the game he still had the same problems that have troubled him for a few weeks,” said Benítez of his compatriot’s display in Lyon, where Liverpool’s failure to win pushed them closer to elimination from the Champions League at the group stage. “He wants to wait, rather than have an operation. He wants to work with the physios to try to solve his problems, but still he has pain. He told me he needed to keep stopping during the game because of the pain. Whether there is the need for him or Steven to have an operation is a decision we will probably not take straight away. We must see how they can improve, and by how much. Then we will decide about any possible operation.”

Glen Johnson, Martin Skrtel, Fabio Aurelio and Nabil El Zhar, who all missed the Lyon game through injury, have returned to light training.

Fernando TorresLiverpoolSteven GerrardPremier LeagueChampions LeagueAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

• Claim for wrongful dismissal over red card at Fulham fails
• Verdict on Jamie Carragher’s sending-off in same game to follow

Liverpool’s problems have increased after they lost their appeal over full-back Philipp Degen’s red card in Saturday’s defeat at Fulham.

Injury-hit Liverpool had both their Swiss defender Degen and stand-in captainJamie Carragher sent off in the second half of the match at Craven Cottage, which they lost 3-1.

Liverpool appealed against both decisions and now await the Football Association’s deliberations over Carragher’s foul on Bobby Zamora.

On the Degen case, an FA statement said: “At a Regulatory Commission hearing today, a claim for wrongful dismissal by Liverpool defender Philipp Degen was rejected. Degen’s three-match suspension begins with immediate effect.”

Degen will now be unavailable for the Premier League games at home to Birmingham and Manchester City, plus the Merseyside derby game at Everton on 29 November.

With fellow full-back Glen Johnson’s calf injury forcing him out of the Champions League Group E match in Lyon, Degen, who is not registered for Europe, could have enjoyed an extended run in the first team.

Liverpool felt that Degen’s foul on Clint Dempsey merited only a yellow card, but the FA did not agree.

If Johnson does recover in time for Monday’s game with Birmingham, Degen will probably find himself completing the ban in reserve football.

LiverpoolFulhamPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk