Liverpool start Premier League season against Stoke City

Daniel Sturridge

The Reds look to get their Premier League season underway on Saturday at Anfield when they face Mark Hughes’ Stoke side. If you’re reading this that means my scheduled post has worked and I’m currently sitting on a beach in Tenerife, sorry to rub it in. For this reason as you can probably tell this match preview is a bit thin on the ground compared to my usual posts but I didn’t want to miss it completely.

We all know how Liverpool‘s pre-season went with 6 wins out of 7 and only two goals conceded. For Stoke, their pre-season has also gone pretty well, they lost just one game on their American tour, beat Wrexham and picked up a draw against Genoa.

With Tony Pulis out the door, many people are suggesting that Stoke’s well known style of play has been filtered out under Hughes but I’ll make my own decision on that when we see them in the league. If this is true though expect some more attacks at Anfield from the Potters as opposed to a parking of the bus.

For Liverpool, they are obviously without Luis Suarez (if he’s even still here?) but this is the perfect chance for Daniel Sturridge to step up. I really like Sturridge and feel he can become a prolific scorer in this side. With the flair of Coutinho and Aspas too and the security of new Vice Captain Daniel Agger with Kolo Toure at the back, I feel this should be a win for Liverpool.

I’d usually provide you with a stat sandwich here but considering this has been typed up so early I’m afraid I have no worthy stats today.

My prediction for this one is 2-0 and wherever you are watching I hope this is a successful start for the Reds.