Liverpool vs Fulham: Preview, Preferred Team & Predicted Score

Liverpool travel to Craven Cottage to take on Fulham tonight and will look to continue an unbeaten streak that stretches back 11 games in all competitions as well as equalling a club record for successive away victories.

Liverpool have not lost since that terrible 4-0 away defeat against Tottenham and are in a good run of form with two wins against Chelsea and a draw against Manchester City in their last three games. Victory against Fulham will mean six successive victories on the road for the Reds, equal to a club record. And, if things go like they did last season, that could very well be the case.

Liverpool did the double over Fulham last season, grinding out a 1-0 win at Anfield and then demolishing the Cottagers 5-2 away from home. In that game, Maxi Rodriguez ran riot, scoring a stunning hat-trick including a screamer from 30 yards.

The Argentine has been unlucky to find himself on the bench for the majority of this season but has been selected to start in two of the last three matches, scoring two goals in the process and hopefully earning his spot back in the line-up.

When quizzed on Maxi in a press conference, Dalglish was full of praise for tricky midfielder.

“I’m tempted to play Maxi in every game. He has a fantastic recent goalscoring record,” Dalglish said.

“He is an intelligent footballer and he must have been some player five years ago when he was in his prime. He might be getting a bit towards my age now but he is still a clever, intelligent footballer. He knows how to play and he knows how to finish. He’s just an intelligent footballer who understands the game on and off the pitch. The same as everybody should do. The squad is more important than the individual.”

It’s no secret around here that I’m a big fan of Maxi and I really do hope he gets a chance to continue to show what he can do in this one.

With the unfortunate news that Lucas is out for the season we should see Spearing or Henderson slot in alongside Charlie Adam. The Brazilian’s injury will be a huge blow to Liverpool and I have a sneaking suspicion that the absence of his non-glamorous hard work and tidy passing will be glaringly obvious.

Although, Jay Spearing handled himself well when called up last season and should be up to the job. I’m hoping to see the centre-back pairing of Agger and Skrtel stick together once more as those two have done well in recent matches, and other than that the side basically picks itself bar a few personal preferences for Kenny.

Predicted Liverpool Team:

Reina, Johnson, Enrique, Skrtel, Agger, Spearing, Adam, Kuyt, Maxi/Downing, Bellamy, Suarez

Fulham

Fulham are no mugs and are usually strong at home. They have a few danger men in Ruiz, Zamora, Andy Johnson, Dembele, Dempsey and Danny Murphy to name a few, but with Liverpool’s good form and if Suarez has a good game and Maxi a) starts and b) continues his scoring record the Reds should have too much firepower for the Cottagers.

At the back, Lucas’ absence could be felt strongly. You can’t replace his tactical and positional awareness and as a result we could end up conceding a goal, especially when you consider Fulham do have some quality going forward.

Scoreline Prediction

Liverpool 2-1 Fulham

Thanks to Liverpool Football Blog for this guest post