WBA vs Liverpool: Preview, Team News, Likely Line-ups & Predicted Score

New Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers takes charge of his first Premier League game as he takes on West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on Saturday afternoon.

Rodgers made the move to Merseyside after doing an excellent job at Swansea City and will look to improve upon Liverpool’s disappointing eight place finish last term.

His opposite number in the dug out will be Steve Clarke who worked under Kenny Dalglish during his time at Anfield, and he will be looking to build upon the superb work of Roy Hodgson who guided WBA to a top-half finish last season before taking over as England boss in the summer.

Team News

Clarke will have to make do without the services of new signing Markus Rosenberg, while James Morrison and Jonas Olsson returned from international duty in midweek with knocks and will face late fitness tests ahead of the game.

Shane Long is available despite missing the Republic of Ireland’s match with Serbia on Wednesday but is likely to miss out to Romelu Lukaku, who is in line to make his first start up front after joining on loan from Chelsea. Fellow summer signing Claudio Jacub could also start.

New Liverpool signings Joe Allen and Fabio Borini are set to make their debuts. Italian striker Borini has impressed in pre-season and is pushing for a start and Allen is likely to start alongside Lucas Leiva, who returns after missing the last 5 months of last season with a knee injury.

Joe Cole has shaken off a hamstring injury and in contention for a place on the bench and he should be joined by Andy Carroll  who appears to have fallen out-of-favour under Rodgers.

Likely Line-ups

Predicted Score

Rodgers has got Liverpool playing some decent stuff in pre-season and with Leiva, Gerrard and Suarez all playing together in the same side for the first time in a long while, i think the Reds will just sneak this one. But not by much. WBA 1-2 Liverpool.

What do you think the score will be? Get involved in the comments section.