Influential midfielder Steven Gerrard will be back from injury tonight as Liverpool host Wolves at Anfield. The skipper will be hoping to add to a Wolves team’s woes who sit rock botton of the Premier League. A win for Hodgson’s side will move them to 9th while an unlikely win for Wolves will still keep them in the relegation zone.
Gerrard has been greatly missed by Liverpool who have recorded 1 win in their last 5 games in all competitions. Even Wolves have a better record, achieving 2 wins in their last 5. However, Liverpool have not conceded at Anfield in their last 3 league games and have an advantage of having fresh legs following the postponements of their fixtures against Fulham and Blackpool. Frozen supporters at Anfield tonight will be warmed by the fact that Wolves have picked up just a single point away from home all season, making it unlikely that there will be any festive cheer for the sect travelling from the Midlands.
Tonight’s match also sees two of the Premier League’s under-fire managers pitted against each other. Hodgson was keen to stress that the blame does not lie squarely with him saying,
“I get the feeling every day the players are committed to the club and will work hard to do a bit better in 2011 than they have done in 2010,”
trying to separate his regime from Rafa Benitez’s. Hodgson added,
“Everyone is anxious to make 2011 a better year than 2010. The club, the players and the staff dealt with the takeover situation very well.”
Mick McCarthy chose to go on an expletive-filled rant saying,
“We are bottom of the fucking league, we got slapped on Sunday and we were shit”
. Even so, he did encourage his players, urging,
“We can get out of this. I have confidence because of the players. There’s no question that anyone will be throwing the towel in or packing it in, or thinking that this can’t be done.”
The death of Avi Cohen, former Liverpool player will be commemorated tonight.
Liverpool-probable: Reina; Johnson, Kyrgiakos, Skrtel, Konchesky; Maxi, Lucas, Gerrard, Kuyt; Ngog, Torres
Wolves- probable: Hennessey; Zubar, Stearman, Berra, Elokobi; Jarvis, Foley, Milijas, Hunt; Ward, Ebanks-Blake
We will publish the goals from the game shortly after the final whistle.
