It’s not all too often that cross-town rivals Everton do us a favour, but after putting the boot in to Manchester United at the weekend, Liverpool have absolutely no choice but to capitalize against Hull City tomorrow.
Sitting seven points off fourth place with only five matches left to play this season, securing Champions League football for a second year in a row remains an outside chance, but one worth try for nonetheless. The Reds did very little to further their cause in a lifeless draw with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, and following their shambolic display at Wembley the weekend before, boss Brendan Rodgers will be looking for so much more from his team at the KC Stadium tomorrow.
That they’ll have to do it without Daniel Sturridge comes as little surprise with the Liverpool manager hinting that the 25-year old could be done for the season, but the normal raucous support of the travelling Kop will also be silent with a planned boycott against ticket prices sure to turn down the decibel levels in Yorkshire.
Along with Sturridge, both Mamadou Sakho and Lucas Leiva remain sidelined, but fullback Alberto Moreno could return to the starting eleven after recovering from a knock that kept him out of the draw with the Baggies. Glen Johnson, who replaced the Spaniard at the Hawthorns, endured a torrid day at the back, but with West Brom creating very little by way of forward momentum, it wasn’t the Reds defence that looked the most concerning with their attack continuing to stutter.
Jordon Ibe had the best opportunity of the match when he saw a shot smack off the crossbar after good interplay with Mario Balotelli. Despite enjoying a staggering 74% possession, Liverpool did little with it and managed to put only 5 of their 22-shots on target. If we want to find some joy against City, we’re going to have to do much, much better than that.
A morale boosting win over Crystal Palace on Saturday puts the momentum squarely in Hull’s corner with the three-points serving as a welcome respite from a season filled with uncertainty. They may be drifting just above the drop zone, but Steve Bruce’s side are hardly done for, but with that being said, they’re hardly safe either with a difficult run in complicating their bid for survival even further. Liverpool will visit tomorrow, followed by Arsenal and Manchester United before the end of the season — not exactly the run of fixtures you want when you’re staving off relegation.
Thankfully for them, they’ll be boosted by the news that both Mohamed Diame and Andy Robertson could return to the fold after working their way through their respective injuries, but the Tigers will still be without David Meyler, who is serving the final match of a ban, and long-term absentees Nikica Jelavic, Curtis Davies and Robert Snodgrass when the Reds pull in to town tomorrow.
Manchester United’s loss at the hands of the Toffee’s over the weekend may have handed us a leg-up in the race for a top four spot, but unless we start finding the back of the net with regularity, it’ll be all for nothing. Maybe having Adam Lallana — who looked sharp after coming on against the Baggies — back and fit will help that somewhat, but this is going to be a team effort. We need a solution and we need it yesterday…
–Steven
