By Gary Fulcher.

Liverpool play their fourth match in the space of ten days with the Capital One Cup 3rd Round tie against Championship outfit Middlesbrough on Tuesday evening; 7.45pm kick off UK time. With the first Merseyside derby of the season just four days after this match, Brendan Rodgers must surely rest some of our key players for the visit of Aitor Karanka’s men.

The two sides have met each other in this competition on six previous occasions with the last meeting coming during the 2004/05 season at Anfield – at the 4th round stage – which Liverpool won 2-0 thanks to a brace from Neil Mellor. They last met at the 3rd round stage during the 1981/82 campaign, a tie which we won 4-1 at Anfield courtesy of goals from Kevin Sheedy, Ian Rush and a brace from David Johnson.

Liverpool’s League Cup record against Middlesbrough:

• Total – P: 6 W: 3 D: 0 L: 3 F: 9 A: 7 GD: +2
• Home – P: 4 W: 3 D: 0 L: 1 F: 8 A: 3 GD: +5
• Away – P: 2 W: 0 D: 0 L: 2 F: 1 A: 4 GD: -3

Liverpool hold multiple records in this competition including most tournament wins (8), most final appearances (11), joint highest win (10-0 against Fulham in September 1986, shared with West Ham who hammered Bury by the same scoreline three years earlier), while Ian Rush holds records for the most tournament wins as a player (5 all with Liverpool), joint most final appearances as a player (6, shared with Emile Heskey who made three final appearances with Leicester, two with Liverpool and one with Aston Villa) and joint highest goalscorer (49 goals shared with Geoff Hurst).

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