Burnley v Liverpool – Match Preview

Burnley have lost 13 of 16 games since Brian Laws took over from Owen Coyle. We have not won in our last seven league games away from Anfield and come into this on the back of a grueling trip to Spain that resulted in yet another defeat, our 18th of the season. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to say this won’t be one for the purists.

Burnley are really, really bad, and anything other than a win here has to be deemed as unacceptable. Manchester City took them apart a few weeks ago, in one of the most embarrassingly one sided games I’ve ever seen in the top flight. They were truly awful, and it’s difficult to believe that this is a team that beat Manchester United and Everton at Turf Moor earlier in the season. Brian Laws is not Owen Coyle though, and it shows.

With Torres ruled out and Ngog rated doubtful, it has to be Kuyt or Babel up front, and we may even get a rare glimpse of the extremely rare lesser spotted Aquilani in the starting XI. Has he started a game away from home yet? He got some games when Masch was suspended, and I seem to remember he may have started at Villa but apart from that I don’t recall him starting away from Anfield. He’s not started much at Anfield either, but Rafa will be looking to keep players fresh for Atletico and may well give one or two of the fringe players some playing time today. I hope Aquilani does start.

In truth, Rafa’s options are limited, as there aren’t too many fringe players who you’d want to be given a chance. Hopefully Pacheco will get some time on the pitch in this one, assuming he’s not off cutting the grass or washing the car of the Spanish youth team boss or something. Other options include Degen, El Zhar and Ayala, but it would be a big surprise if any of those made the starting line up. Results yesterday mean that there is still an outside chance we could get 4th, and for that reason I don’t think Rafa can really mess about too much with his team.

Had Spurs and City both won, he would have had more scope to blood a couple of youngsters, but now he owes it to the club and the fans to go all out for the win and close the gap on those above, just in case they collapse in the closing games of the season.

So I can’t see too many surprises in our line up, and even taking into account the travelling we’ve done this week and the possible effect that will have on our sharpness, this is a game there is no excuse for us not winning. And yet I’ve got a feeling that we won’t win it. I’d be very surprised if we lost it, but I can easily see it ending up in a disappointing draw or a very unconvincing one goal victory. That’s how bad we’ve been away from home this season, even a trip to a team managed by Brian Laws and containing that useless prick Nugent is not a certain three points.

Line up prediction: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Agger: Mascherano, Gerrard; Maxi, Aquilani, Benayoun; Kuyt:

Score prediction: 1-1 (Maxi)

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