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Swansea City v Liverpool, Liberty Stadium
Kick-off: 13.30 GMT(18:55 IST), ESPN (India)
Expected Lineups:
Swansea City: Tremmel, Rangel, Williams, Chico, Davies, Britton, Ki, De Guzman, Dyer, Michu, Hernandez
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique, Sahin, Allen, Gerrard, Sterling, Suarez, Suso
Referee: Jon Moss
Brendan Rodgers returns to the Liberty Stadium for the first time as the Liverpool manager with the Reds visiting his former side Swansea City. Rodgers spent a couple of seasons at Swansea during which the Welsh outfit earned promotion into the Premier League for the first time and followed it up with an impressive 11th place finish in 2011-12. The fluid passing football that Swansea showcased under Rodgers’ stewardship did not go unnoticed and he replaced Kenny Daglish as the Liverpool manager in the summer of 2012. Rodgers’ start to life on the Merseyside can hardly be classified as ideal. However, things are slowly on the mend as since their defeat to Manchester United on 23rd September, the Reds have gone on a 7-match unbeaten run – winning 3 and drawing 4 matches since. The results can mainly be attributed to the scintillating form of Luis Suarez who is the top scorer in the Premier League this season with 10 goals to his name. He will certainly have a few things to prove to Swansea captain Ashley William who accused Suarez of being a serial diver in his recently published book, My Premier League Diary. Their face-off will certainly assume centre stage at the Liberty Stadium.
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Injury Concerns
Michael Laudrup has a number of injury concerns. Neil Taylor (ankle) is out for the rest of the season while first-choice goalkeeper Michel Vorm (groin) will be unable to play a part. Leroy Lita (thigh) and Kyle Bartley (thigh) will also be missing in action while Davies, Graham, Moore (all illness) are doubtful for this fixture.
The long time absentees for Liverpool are Fabio Borini (foot) and Martin Kelly(knee). Andre Wisdom (knee) is a doubtful starter following his withdrawal against Young Boys on Thursday night. Meanwhile Lucas Leiva (thigh) is inching closer towards his return following his role in the recent U-21s match vs Middlesborough, but will be unlikely to be a part of the first team before December.
Recent Meetings
Capital One Cup ?(CCUP)? 31 Oct 2012 Liverpool 1 - Swansea City 3
Premier League ?(EPL)? 13 May 2012 Swansea City 1 - Liverpool 0
Premier League ?(EPL)? 5 Nov 2011 Liverpool 0 - Swansea City 0
League Position and Form
Swansea sit 10th in the Premier league table with 16 points from 12 games with 4 Wins, 4 Losses and 4 Draws. A win today could catapult them to 7th in the Premier League table. Their last match was a 2-1 victory away at Newcastle with De Guzman and Michu on the scoresheet.
FORM - W D D L W
Liverpool are 12th in the league with 15 points from 12 games (3 Wins, 6 Draws, 3 Losses). A win today could take them into the top half of the table. In their last match in the league, the Reds recorded a resounding 3-0 victory over Wigan at Anfield while they were held to a 2-2 stalemate against Young Boys in their midweek clash in the Europa League. The Reds hope to continue to add to their 7 match unbeaten streak in the league.
FORM - W D D D W
Players to watch out for
Joe Allen (Liverpool): Since his departure to Liverpool in the summer of 2012 for a fee of £15m, Joe Allen will be returning to Liberty Stadium for the first time. It will be a homecoming of sorts for the 22-year old Welsh international who had spent his entire career at Swansea setup from the age of nine. Though not a headline grabber, he is an exceptionally accurate passer (recording a superb 91.6 % accuracy rate with his 829 passes this season) and a deep lying midfielder who has been entrusted with the work done by Lucas Leiva the previous year. He has played every minute of the Premier League campaign for Liverpool and is one of the primary reasons why Liverpool have an average possession of 57% in the 2012-13 season.
Allen revealed that he has been looking forward to the game ever since he signed for the Reds – “It’s going to be strange for me, travelling there and being in the opposition changing room, the opposite side of the tunnel, but it’s one I’m looking forward to being involved in. With games like this, you can get distracted by the occasion. There’s maybe those strange feelings that I’m sure I’ll have but my job is to go there and represent Liverpool with the best performance I can and play for my team and hopefully come away with all three points.”
Michu (Swansea City): The 26-year-old Spaniard has lit up the Premier League with seven goals and an assist in his twelve appearances so far. The top goals scorer for Swansea this season, he has played every match in the league for his club.He scored 15 goals in the La Liga last season with Rayo Vallecano and was added to the Swansea squad in the summer. Brought in to replace Gylfi Sigurdsson, Michu has impressed one and all, and at £2m is arguably one of the bargain buys of the transfer window. The Reds would be hoping to keep him under wraps after he dished out an impressive performance at Anfield earlier this season in the Capital One Cup.
Pre Match Manager Quips
Brendan Rodgers: “It’s certainly a fixture I was looking forward to. It’s a beautiful part of the world, a brilliant club and I had two memorable years there. It was a wonderful experience and I have great memories from there, both professionally and personally. I’m really looking forward to going back and seeing many friends there, but ultimately looking to get the result. That’s what we’ll be there for.”
Michael Laudrup:” It will be a different game. Last month’s game was in the cup and now we play in the league. Liverpool will want a win because they wish to climb the table and get some more points on the board. I saw them play on Thursday against Young Boys and we can only expect maybe two or three of the starting line-up to play on Sunday. It’s always important to have momentum,” he said. “We want to keep going but we know we have a tough period coming up with three games in six days. They are all going to be difficult games, because we face two huge clubs and possibly the surprise package of the Premier League so far in West Brom. However, they are games that we are looking forward too and we’ll be doing our best to keep the good run going.”
