Surprises abound at Anfield. Fernandes Torres doesn’t make the Liverpool matchday squad and Dirk Kuyt’s only on the bench.
Roy Hodgson’s picked a very strong side. Thursday’s back five is retained with Jonathan Greening replacing Simon Davies and a little tweak to the system as well. It looks as though Fulham will be a conventional 4-4-2 with Erik Nevland partnering Bobby Zamora.
LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Reina; G. Johnson, Agger, Carragher, Kyrgiakos; Mascherano, Aquilani; Maxi Rodriguez, Babel, Gerrard; Ngog. Subs: Cavalieri, Benayoun, Kuyt, Lucas, Degen, Ayala, Pacheco.
FULHAM (4-4-2): Schwarzer; Baird, Konchesky, Hangeland, Hughes; Etuhu, Murphy, Duff, Greening; Zamora, Nevland. Subs: Zuberbuhler, Kelly, Shorey, Smalling, Dikgacoi, Riise, Okaka.
REFEREE: Andre Marriner (Birmingham).
I am happily surprised with Roy’s selections.
I wonder if Greening’s got the nod over Riise because of the need to be very solid defensively at a place like Anfield.