Liverpool return to Anfield this Saturday to face Neil Warnock’s Cardiff City side, with both teams coming off the back of victories heading into the weekend.
The Reds managed to escaped from the John Smith’s Stadium with a tight 1-0 win, thanks to a first-half goal from Mohamed Salah.
Going into the weekend, Naby Keita, James Milner and Gini Wijnaldum are all doubts and face a race against time to prove their fitness. However, both Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are certainties to miss out.
Moving to the Bluebirds, they managed to exploit Fulham’s defensive woes by coming from behind to beat them 4-2 in South Wales.
Cardiff’s first victory of the campaign lifted them out of the relegation zone and into seventeenth.
Gary Madine is a slight doubt going into the game at Anfield after suffering with a virus. However Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Lee Peltier, Joe Ralls and Danny Ward all look certain to miss out.
Previous Head-to-Heads
The two sides have faced each other thirty-two times in footballing history, with the Bluebirds winning eighteen of the encounters and the Reds just twelve.
The first match between the two teams came on the 15th April 1922, and it’s fair to say Liverpool ran riot as they eased to a 5-1 annihilation at Anfield.
They’ve met just twice in the Premier League with both of them coming in the 2013/14 season and the Merseysiders have come out victorious in both.
The first, a comfortable 3-1 win at Anfield, the next a 6-3 thriller at the Cardiff City Stadium, which included a Luis Suarez hat-trick.
Arguably, the most important game between the sides came on the 26th February 2012. This was the date of the Reds’ last trophy success when they managed to see the Bluebirds off on penalties to lift the Carling Cup.
Prediction
Liverpool were extremely unconvincing against Huddersfield and I thought they were lucky to come away from West Yorkshire with all three points. At the end of the day though, a win is a win and in the Premier League you take anything that comes your way.
Neil Warnock is a manager who prides himself on having an organised defensive unit and therefore Liverpool may have to be patient if they want to break the deadlock on Saturday.
However we’ve seen this season against Chelsea and Manchester City that Cardiff have a tendency to collapse when conceding, and they need to avoid doing this against the Reds to stay in the game.
Liverpool do need a big win though to ease some of the Kopites’ worries and there’s no reason why it can’t happen here. Jurgen Klopp certainly has the players at his disposal to dismantle the Bluebirds.
Alisson; Gomez, Lovren, van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Milner, Lallana; Salah, Firmino, Mane
Liverpool 2-0 Cardiff City
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