Goal.com Debate: Is David Ngog good enough to lead the line for Liverpool in the absence of Fernando Torres?

Wayne Veysey reports from Craven Cottage: “A good hand for debutant Pavel Pogrebnyak from the Fulham fans shortly before kick-off. He failed to acknowledge their applause, instead concentrating on a few stretching exercises, although perhaps his introduction was lost in translation. Anyway, we're off here.”

And before we turn our attention to the six 15:00 games, as promised, here are Greg Stobart’s player ratings from Old Trafford.

"Both sets of fans behaved very well, they've had a bit of banter," says Kenny Dalglish in an extremely awkward interview with Sky Sports. The Liverpool boss went on to claim that he had no idea Luis Suarez refused to shake Patrice Evra’s hand, adding that the reporter was "bang out of order" to blame the Uruguayan for anything that happened at Old Trafford today. More on that shortly.

Even more from Alex Fisher at the Reebok Stadium: “As we wait for the players to come out here at the Reebok the travelling Wigan fans have unfurled a banner with just the word 'BELIEVE' on it. Not sure if that's to inspire the players or just to remind them all is not lost!”

More from Alex Fisher at the Reebok Stadium: When it's as cold as it is today a visit to your local rivals is exactly what you want and here at the Reebok we've got a Lancashire derby with massive implications. Neither side have had a good season so far but the home side are showing signs of recovery, which probably explains their optimism. Paul, 45, from Westhoughton is a Wigan fan, he made the short journey from home to the Reebok this afternoon with dreams of a victory in his head. “This is a massive game, we need to win today and start getting ourselves closer to the rest of the bottom five,” he said. “We’re in danger of getting cut off from the rest so Martinez has to do something to turn it around. I’d play Hugo [Rodallega] but [Franco] Di Santo seems to be in favour at the moment. It’ll be close but I reckon we’ll nick it.” However Michael, 25, from Boothstown, disagrees (well he is a Bolton fan) and he thinks this will be a comfortable home win. “A couple of weeks ago we’d have probably lost today but we’re in better form now and I think we’ll win easily today, 3-1 to Bolton with Eagles getting at least two.”