January 26, 2011 8:00 PM GMT
Anfield — Liverpool
Referee: L. Probert
Attendance: 40466
Fernando Torres is back to his scoring self it seems with three goals in two games for Liverpool and has shown solid signs of his early days at the Anfield outfit where ‘The Child’ was scoring goals for fun.
The two goals he scored at the weekend against Wolves marked his 62nd and 63rd on his 100th league appearance for the Red half of Merseyside. However, Torres has quite a bit to go to even start thinking about breaking into the top 10 goal scorers for the team with Jack Parkinson occupying 10th place with 130 goals and current team-mate and captain Steven Gerrard in ninth with 140.
New Year, New FulhamThe opening month to 2011 has seen the west London club collect three wins and one draw in the five games that they have played so far since the New Year and is easily the best form they’ve had all season (even if one of the games was a 6-2 thrashing of League 1 side Peterborough).
Striker Andy Johnson has found himself some form after his comeback from injury and is playing some good football which included a goal against Wigan, his first in the Premier League for almost two seasons.
New signing Steve Sidwell made his debut on Saturday and impressed new manager Mark Hughes, but will have to wait until he begins to break into the Fulham midfield with squad staples such as Danny Murphy and Dickson Etuhu. However, don’t be surprised to see him feature at some point during the game.
Ten Of The Best For LiverpoolLiverpool’s second highest win in their history came against Fulham when they met in the second round of the League Cup in September 1986 with a final score of 10-0.
Steve McMahon scored four of the goals on that day with Ian Rush and John Wark both scoring two each and Ronnie Whelan and Steve Nicol scoring the other two.
The win remains Liverpool’s best performance in any domestic competition and is still Fulham’s worst ever defeat in their history.
TEAM NEWS
Liverpool
Captain Steven Gerrard returns from suspension and will be hoping to carry on the Merseyside club’s positive progress since the second coming of club legend King Kenny.
Possible starting XI: Reina; Kelly, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson; Kuyt, Lucas, Meireles, Maxi; Gerrard; Torres.
Fulham
The visitors for the rescheduled match are without four players, all with long-term injuries, and include Dickson Etuhu (hamstring), Matthew Briggs (ankle), Bobby Zamora (broken leg) and Philippe Senderos (Achilles).
Also, Mark Schwarzer’s Australia are through to the semi-finals of the Asian Cup and play on Tuesday night against Uzbekistan and so will not be available either, leaving goalkeeper David Stockdale to once again fill his boots.
Possible starting XI: Stockdale; Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Baird; Dempsey, Murphy, Etuhu, Duff; A Johnson, Dembele.
Reader's Predictions
Top 3 Predictions
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Liverpool 3-0 Fulham
- 26.78 %
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Liverpool 2-0 Fulham
- 22.86 %
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Liverpool 3-1 Fulham
- 11.67 %
| England - Premier League (EPL) | May 12, 2013 | Fulham 1 - Liverpool 3 | |
| England - Premier League (EPL) | Dec 22, 2012 | Liverpool 4 - Fulham 0 | |
| England - Premier League (EPL) | May 1, 2012 | Liverpool 0 - Fulham 1 | |
| England - Premier League (EPL) | Dec 5, 2011 | Fulham 1 - Liverpool 0 | |
| England - Premier League (EPL) | May 9, 2011 | Fulham 2 - Liverpool 5 |
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| May 19, 2013 | Liverpool 1 - QPR 0 | EPL |
| May 12, 2013 | Fulham 1 - Liverpool 3 | EPL |
| May 5, 2013 | Liverpool 0 - Everton 0 | EPL |
| Apr 27, 2013 | Newcastle 0 - Liverpool 6 | EPL |
| Apr 21, 2013 | Liverpool 2 - Chelsea FC 2 | EPL |
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| May 19, 2013 | Swansea 0 - Fulham 3 | EPL |
| May 12, 2013 | Fulham 1 - Liverpool 3 | EPL |
| May 4, 2013 | Fulham 2 - Reading 4 | EPL |
| Apr 27, 2013 | Everton 1 - Fulham 0 | EPL |
| Apr 20, 2013 | Fulham 0 - Arsenal 1 | EPL |
| 25 | José Reina Paez | Goalkeeper |
| 34 | Martin Kelly | Defender |
| 37 | Martin Skrtel | Defender |
| 5 | Daniel Agger | Defender |
| 2 | Glen Johnson | Defender |
| 11 | Dirk Kuyt | Striker |
| 5 | Christian Poulsen | Midfielder |
| 14 | Raúl Meireles | Midfielder |
| 11 | Maxi Rodríguez | Midfielder |
| 8 | Steven Gerrard | Midfielder |
| 9 | Fernando Torres | Striker |
| 42 | Peter Gulacsi | Goalkeeper |
| 22 | Danny Wilson | Defender |
| - | Fabio Aurelio | Defender |
| 10 | Joe Cole | Midfielder |
| 33 | Jonjo Shelvey | Midfielder |
| 24 | David Ngog | Striker |
| 12 | Dani Pacheco | Striker |
| - | David Stockdale | Goalkeeper |
| 6 | Chris Baird | Defender |
| 18 | Aaron Hughes | Defender |
| 5 | Brede Hangeland | Defender |
| 4 | John Paintsil | Defender |
| 23 | Clint Dempsey | Midfielder |
| 13 | Danny Murphy | Midfielder |
| 4 | Steve Sidwell | Midfielder |
| 16 | Damien Duff | Midfielder |
| 8 | Andy Johnson | Striker |
| 19 | Moussa Dembele | Striker |
| 38 | Neil Etheridge | Goalkeeper |
| 30 | C. Salcido | Defender |
| 2 | Stephen Kelly | Defender |
| 27 | Jonathan Greening | Midfielder |
| 15 | Diomansy Kamara | Striker |
| 22 | Zoltán Gera | Striker |
| 29 | Simon Davies | Midfielder |
| Fernando Torres | |
| Position: | Striker |
| Squad Number: | 9 |
| Games | Goals | YC | RC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 8 | 6 | 1 |
| Mark Schwarzer | |
| Position: | Goalkeeper |
| Squad Number: | 1 |
| Games | Goals | YC | RC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The veteran will need to be at his best if his side are to take away anything from this game.
| Player | Goals | Penalties | |
|---|---|---|---|
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Robin van Persie Striker Man Utd. |
26 | 3 |
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Luis Suárez Striker Liverpool |
23 | 0 |
|
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Gareth Bale Midfielder Tottenham |
21 | 0 |
|
|
C. Benteke Striker Aston Villa |
19 | 3 |
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Michu Midfielder Swansea City |
19 | 0 |
