DATE: 29/8/2010

VENUE: Anfield

KICK OFF: 3PM

Match Preview:

The last time Liverpool faced West Brom at the end of the 2008/09 campaign, a goal apiece from Gerrard and Kuyt confirmed relegation for Tony Mowbray’s side and Jamie Carragher was involved in a bit of handbags with Alvaro Arbeloa towards the end of the game. Now both teams have new men in charge with former Chelsea midfielder Roberto Di Matteo cutting his teeth in the top flight for the first time after he led The Baggies to promotion to the Premier League at the first time of asking. How will the relatively inexperienced Italian cope in the Premier League? West Brom recovered from the 6 – 0 drubbing they received from Chelsea on the opening day of the season by beating Sunderland 1 – 0 at The Hawthorns thanks to a goal from new signing Peter Odemwingie, so they should be in good spirits for their trip to Anfield.

DATE: 23/08/2010

VENUE: COMS

KICK OFF: 8PM

COMPETITION:

Match Preview:

Despite the attacking talent both sides have at their disposal, Man City v Liverpool games are usually tight, drab affairs and recent form and clashes suggest that there will be no deviation from this trend. Both teams opened up the 2010/11 Premier League season with draws and there have been eight draws from the 13 Premier League meetings (at City) to date, with Liverpool coming out victorious on three occasions and City winning just two.

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With Liverpool due to play Trabzonspor in the Europa League Play Off round, it seems an appropriate time to look back at our previous encounters against Turkish opposition.

The most famous of our trips to Turkey did not include opposition from that country, of course, and so the Istanbul final of 2005 is not covered here.

1976-77 European Cup Second Round – Trabzonspor – Qualified

Liverpool were rapidly becoming a major force in Europe, having won the UEFA Cup the previous season and so were expected to qualify comfortably against the surprise Turkish champions, Trabzonspor. Liverpool had easily dispatched the part-timers of Crusaders in the first round, winning 7-0 on aggregate, with a 5-0 away win following a narrow 2-0 victory at Anfield.

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DATE: 15/08/2010

VENUE: Anfield

KICK OFF: 4PM

COMPETITION:

Match Preview:

A new season is finally upon us and Liverpool couldn’t have been given a tougher start if good old Fergie himself had hand picked the fixtures! Home to Arsenal followed by an away trip to Man City, then home to West Brom and two successive away trips to Birmingham and Man Utd. A nice easy start for the Roy Hodgson era then.

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DATE: Sunday 9th May 2010

VENUE: KC Stadium

KICK OFF: 4PM

COMPETITION:

Match Preview: Now that the 4th Champions League spot has been claimed by Spurs, and with our elimination from the Europa League semi-finals at the hands of Atletico Madrid, the best Liverpool can hope for this season is to finish 6th. This is providing Aston Villa fail to beat Blackburn at home and we beat Hull City in our final game of the season. A far cry from the expectations we had last August, it’s safe to say that no Liverpool supporter will be sad to see the end of what has been a frustrating and depressing season.

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DATE: Sunday 2nd May 2010

VENUE: Anfield

KICK OFF: 1.30PM

Competition:

Match Preview: Liverpool v Chelsea games are never short of drama or controversy, but this meeting comes with an extra dose of anguish and mixed feelings. A Liverpool victory will maintain our slim chances of finishing 4th yet it could also put Man Utd in the driving seat to secure their 19th league title if they beat Sunderland (thus breaking our record of 18 league titles in the process if they went on to be crowned champions). A Chelsea victory will end our hopes of finishing 4th (especially if Spurs beat Bolton on Sat) but will leave the title in Chelsea’s hands. There are a lot of different scenarios that could play out this weekend, let’s just give it our best shot and hopefully the footballing Gods will finally smile on us this season!

DATE: Sunday 25th April 2010

VENUE: Turf Moor – Capacity: 22700

KICK OFF: 3PM

Match Preview: A number of issues could be cleared up at the top and bottom of the Premier League this weekend. Victory for Liverpool over Burnley could see the latter relegated to the Championship, providing West Ham take maximum points against Wigan on Saturday. Failure to defeat Burnley coupled with Spurs beating Man Utd would see Liverpool mathematically ruled out of the running for the final Champions League place.

However, if both Man City (away to Arsenal) and Spurs (away to Man Utd) lose and we beat Burnley, the gap to 4th place will be down to 2pts, although both Man City and Spurs will have three games to play compared to Liverpool’s two.

It promises to be an interesting weekend of football!

Liverpool will be looking to win away from home for the first time since the 1-0 victory over Aston Villa on 29 December 2009.

Relegation-threatened Burnley lost their last home game 6-1 to Manchester City and have not kept a clean sheet at home since their 2-0 win over Hull on 31 October 2009.

Team news:

DATE: Monday 19th April 2010

VENUE: Anfield

KICK OFF: 8PM

Match Preview: Last Sunday’s draw with Fulham has all but ended Liverpool’s hopes of finishing in the top four but, with Man City at home to Man Utd and Spurs hosting Chelsea, the gap to fourth place could be down to three points if results go our way this weekend and we beat West Ham. We still have a chance mathematically, but the odds are heavily in favour of either Man City or Spurs finishing fourth, while Aston Villa can’t be discounted either.

Liverpool will be looking to get back to winning ways after the 0-0 draw with Fulham ended a sequence of eight consecutive wins at Anfield in the league. West Ham will be buoyed by recent results, including a 2-2 draw away to Everton and a 1-0 win over Sunderland at Upton Park last time out, which ended a six-match losing streak.

Team news: Liverpool are still missing Fabio Aurelio (thigh), Martin Skrtel (foot), Martin Kelly (knee) and Emiliano Insua (thigh), while Fernando Torres is extremely doubtful to return from his knee injury that kept him out of the Fulham match.

West Ham will be without Scott Parker, who serves the second part of his two-match ban, while both Luis Boa Morte (knee) and Zavon Hines (knee) are long-term absentees. There are also doubts over James Tomkins and Kieron Dyer, while Jack Collison and Herita Ilunga may return to the squad after recent injuries.

Date: April 11th 2010

Kick off: 3pm

Venue: Anfield

PREVIEW:

Some people may be getting bored with the “must-win” label attached to every LFC game recently but that is the reality of the situation we find ourselves in. Failing to beat Birmingham last Sunday leaves us four points behind fourth-placed Manchester City (who also have a game in hand) with 15 points to play for. As it stands, two defeats for Man City would still leave us a point behind them (if they won four out of their six remaining games) so winning all five of our remaining games may still not be enough to finish fourth.

Man City have a tricky-looking fixture at home to Birmingham City so, if they do drop points, we have to take full advantage by beating Fulham. Both Spurs (v Portsmouth) and Aston Villa (v Chelsea) are in FA Cup semi-final action so neither team can have a say in the race for fourth this weekend.

Fulham should arrive at Anfield with weary legs after their Europa League tie away to Wolfsburg on Thursday night, while Liverpool were at home to Benfica in the same competition.

Team news:

Liverpool will still be without Martin Skrtel (foot), Fabio Aurelio (muscle) and Martin Kelly (knee).

Fulham have doubts over Bobby Zamora (Achilles tendon) and David Elm (virus) but will definitely be without Andy Johnson (knee) and Clint Dempsey (muscle) for the remainder of the campaign.

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Date: April 4th 2010

Kick off: 3pm

Venue: St Andrews

PREVIEW

Birmingham remain the only team that Liverpool have failed to defeat in the Premier League under Rafa Benitez. That will have to change if we want to maintain our push for that all-important 4th Champions League spot. After Aston Villa’s 7-1 humiliation against Chelsea and with Tottenham & Man City picking up maximum points against Portsmouth and Wigan respectively, Spurs remain in pole position despite having the more difficult-looking fixture list on paper.

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