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Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers (L) takes on former side Swansea City, managed by Michael Laudrup. (Getty Images)
Brendan Rodgers takes his Liverpool side back to where his footballing principles and money ball style of management first began to take hold.
Having scored in all three of Liverpool’s opening matches, Daniel Sturridge is likely to be fit after missing out on international duty last weekend.
After recording their first points of the season with a win against West Brom last time out, Michael Laudrup will be hoping his Swansea side can put a dent in Liverpool’s 100% record.
Previous Meetings
Since returning to the top-flight, Swansea have generally proved a tough nut to crack, with Liverpool failing to score in three of the four Premier League fixtures between the two sides.
The exception to the rule being the 5-0 drubbing handed out at Anfield last February.
Swansea came back from that Luis Suarez-inspired performance to grab a point with a 0-0 draw in this fixture last year.
Formations
Perhaps unsurprisingly, both sides will line up in similar fashion, in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Swansea still building on the foundations laid by Rodgers.
Under Laudrup though, Swansea have developed from the Barcelona-lite side he inherited from Rodgers into the more dynamic, attack-minded side we saw picking up the league cup last season and qualifying for Europe.
Improvement in personnel on both sides has meant these teams now have the quality to turn the excellent possession stats into results.
Both teams’ wide players will be given licence to cut infield to provide support for the central strikers, with width being provided on both sides by overlapping full-backs and leading to a congested central area.
Space will therefore be at a premium centrally and any break in the potential deadlock is likely to be created by the clever movement of either Michu for Swansea or Coutinho for Liverpool.
Daniel Sturridge
With three goals in the opening three games, Sturridge’s all-round game has become indispensable for Liverpool with the loss of the banned Suarez so far proving unproblematic.
On current form there doesn’t appear to be much the forward can’t do, with close control, scoring goals from range and poaching inside the six yard area all in his repertoire.
With Fernando Torres’ continual problems since joining Chelsea, it remains a wonder why Sturridge was never given his chance at Stamford Bridge, especially as he continues to demonstrate all the attributes an aging Samuel Eto’o was purchased to provide.
Key Battles
Wayne Routledge vs. Andre Wisdom
Following on from his excellent performances last season, the Swansea winger’s development has continued under Laudrup. Pablo Hernandez has claimed the goals and headlines this season, but Routledge has become tricky opposition for any Premier League defender and Liverpool’s inexperienced and out of position Wisdom could be in for a tough outing.
Jonjo Shelvey vs. Steven Gerrard
Having made a £5m move to Swansea on the advice of Rodgers this summer, the England U21 regular has made a good impression this season.
It will be interesting to see if the undoubtedly talented Shelvey can match up against the England captain. With the styles and formations of both sides so similar, whoever comes out on top in this battle will go some way to deciding the result of the game.
Michu vs. Martin Skrtel
Martin Skrtel’s time at Anfield had looked like it was drawing to a close this summer. However, after an injury to Kolo Toure, Skrtel was excellent in the win over Manchester United.
Swansea will provide a completely different test to a Wayne Rooney-less United with much depending on how the Slovak defender handles Michu’s movement.
Against West Brom there were several occasions where Michu started on the shoulder of the defence, but dropped deep or moved out to the channel, dragging the defender with him and creating a hole in the opposition back line for his teammates to run into.
Skrtel and Agger will have to decide how best to counteract this movement as, more than last season, Swansea have the players to exploit the space created.
