Match Preview: Reds @ Charlton

Date: Wednesday, February 8th 2006
Where? The Valley
Kickoff: 20:00GMT

Recent league form:

Reds: Lost 0-1 @ Manchester United, drew 1-1 vs Birmingham, lost 0-1 @ Chelsea.

Charlton: Drew 1-1 @ Chelsea, drew 0-0 vs West Brom, lost 1-3 @ Tottenham Hotspur.

Recent meetings

The Reds did the double over Charlton last season, beating them 2-0 at home when Luis Garcia and John Arne Riise both struck. Riise scored again at The Valley, where Morientes would also score his first goal in a Red shirt to lead the Reds to a 2-1 victory. Shaun Bartlett had the Addick’s only goal.

The two teams meet for the first time tonight, due to Liverpool’s involvement in Europe earlier in August.

One to watch:

Reds: Xabi Alonso. After coming off a few below-par performances by his standards, look for Alonso to shine tonight in the absence of Steven Gerrard.

Charlton: Darren Bent. The former Ipswich man has emerged as a challenger for the Premiership’s top goal scorer, with 11 goals to his name already.

Quotable:

“It’s not a serious injury and we’re just going to give him a rest for three or four days.”

-Rafa before the match on Steven Gerrard‘s knee injury.

“I have always liked Peter Crouch and timing is a great thing in football. Sometimes when players are available you are not in a position to do anything and when you are you can’t do it.”

-Charlton boss Alan Curbishley is a big admirer of Peter Crouch, and hinted he would have liked to have brought him to The Valley.

“Rafa obviously brought in Fowler for a reason and he thinks Robbie can improve us as a team. I think that Fowler knows this and you can see that he really wants to play. He’s been training really hard.”

-Luis Garcia on the Liverpool’s latest signing, who could be in line for a start (or at least an appearance) tonight.

Referee: A. Marriner

BBC Sport Stats:

LAST SEASON’S CORRESPONDING GAME:
Charlton Athletic 1-2 Liverpool
1 February 2005 – Ref: Neale Barry
Charlton scorer: Bartlett 20
Liverpool scorers: Morientes 61, Riise 79

HEAD TO HEAD TOTALS
League: Charlton 18 wins, Liverpool 28, Draws 6
Prem: Charlton 4 wins, Liverpool 7, Draws 1

HEAD TO HEAD at Charlton
League: Charlton 12 wins, Liverpool 12, Draws 2
Prem: Charlton 3 wins, Liverpool 3, Draws 0