Melwood Today: Chelsea v Liverpool Match Preview

November 19, 2011
Mark Broomy

Its a super weekend of football ahead as Liverpool arrive at Stamford Bridge this weekend on an eight-match unbeaten run. In Saturday Morning’s Melwood Today…

Chelsea – Liverpool Match Preview
Your center back Partnership Poll Results
Liverpool’s Top Goalscorer 2011/12
Alberto Aquilani to stay at AC Milan?
Seamus Coleman to Liverpool?
The November Merseyside Rumour Mill
Pepe Reina on Suarez’s Talent

Chelsea v Liverpool

Venue: Stamford Bridge, Sunday 16:00
Last season: Chelsea 0 Liverpool 1
Referee: Martin Atkinson

Liverpool News
We expect to see Luis Suarez keeping his place in the Liverpool starting eleven despite a back problem which saw him substituted during Uruguay’s match against Chile before being rested for Uruguay’s friendly win over Italy in midweek as a precautionary measure…

Jamie Carragher is back training after his calf injury but unfortunately the match has come too early for Steven Gerrard who according to Dalglish is “progressing brilliantly” following an infection which was initially caused by an apparently innocuous cut during training.

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Provisional squad: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Enrique, Kuyt, Adam, Lucas, Downing, Suarez, Carroll, Doni, Kelly, Skrtel, Coates, Henderson, Spearing, Rodriguez, Bellamy.

Chelsea News
Reports suggest every Chelsea player appears to have returned unscathed from the internationals. The only long term injury concern for Chelsea is Michael Essien. Goalkeeper Hilario is back from a flu virus while it has also been reported that Didier Drogba has recovered from a minor arm operation.

Daniel Sturridge did not train on Friday morning due to a knock in Thursday’s training but the young striker should be back in full training on Saturday morning.

Provisional squad: Cech, Bosingwa, Ferreira, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Luiz, Mikel, Romeu, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Malouda, Meireles, McEachran, Torres, Drogba, Kalou, Sturridge, Anelka, Lukaku, Turnbull, Hilario.

At the Heart of the Liverpool Defence against Chelsea – Poll

Last week we ran an online poll asking MelwoodToday readers who you would prefer our center back partnership to be for our upcoming game against Chelsea?

After a fantastic 1,730 votes, we can now reveal the results…

56% of readers would prefer a center back partnership of Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger
37% of readers would prefer a center back partnership of Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger
Only 4% of readers would prefer a center back partnership of Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel

Liverpool’s Top Goalscorer 2011/12

Luis Suárez currently leads our goalscoring charts after finding the net against Sunderland, Arsenal, Wolves, Everton, Exeter and a brace at Stoke City…

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The Premier League Golden Boot Race

Meanwhile, looking at the Premier League Golden Boot Race this season, Arsenal‘s Robin Van Persie leads the table with an impressive 11 Premier League goals so far this season….

Robin van Persie (Arsenal) 13
Edin Džeko (Man City) 10
Sergio Agüero (Man City) 10
Wayne Rooney (Man Utd) 9
Demba Ba (Newcastle) 8
Frank Lampard (Chelsea) 6
Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham) 6

(Statistics now include Van Persie’s 2 goals scored against Norwich and Augero’s goal against Newcastle on Saturday)

Saturday’s Liverpool News Round Up

Craig Bellamy has revealed how he turned down the chance to join Tottenham this summer to return to Liverpool.
Alberto Aquilani fully expects AC Milan to meet the £5.2million buyout fee Liverpool have included in his season-long loan deal, revealing that AC Milan can sign him permanently from Liverpool for €6 million if he plays in 25 games this season.
The Independent reported yesterday that Liverpool are lining up “an audacious January move” for Republic of Ireland youngster Seamus Coleman with the paper going on to claim “the versatile right-sided player could command more than £8m in the transfer window.”
The Official Liverpool website have announced Liverpool’s involvement with Soccer Prince – the X-Factor-style television programme which aims to unearth football’s next biggest star in emerging football markets around the world. Full story can be read on the official Liverpool website Here

The November Merseyside Rumour Mill

The transfer window reopens is 42 days but over the month of November, MelwoodToday has been bringing you news of nearly every player who have been linked with Liverpool by the media.

We’ll be keeping a list of every player Kenny has been linked with over the next two months so expect this list to grow and grow by January!!

Lars Bender – Bayer Leverkusen (22) Midfielder
Juan Manuel Vargas – Fiorentina (28) Left Winger
Seamus Coleman – Everton (23) Right back / Right winger
Admir Mehmedi – FC Zurich (20) Striker
Lars Bender – Bayer Leverkusen (22) Midfielder
Lucas Rodrigues – Sao Paulo (19) Attacking Midfielder
Philippe Coutinho – Inter Milan (19) Attacking Midfielder
Ryad Boudebouz – Sochaux (21) Attacking Midfielder
Aly Cissokho – Lyon (24) Left back
Seydou Keita – Barcelona (31) Midfielder
David Villa – Barcelona (29) Striker
Tom Huddlestone – Tottenham (24) Midfielder
Marko Marin – Werder Bremen (22) Winger/Attacking Midfielder
Moussa Dembele – Fulham (24) Attacking Midfielder

Pepe Reina on Suarez’s Talent

Finally, over on BBC Radio Merseyside, Pepe Reina explains why he believes Luis Suarez is showing he is the perfect replacement for Chelsea‘s Fernando Torres as they prepare to meet in Sunday’s game at Stamford Bridge. Click Here to hear the full interview…

This Weekends Barclays Premier League fixtures

Saturday
Norwich v Arsenal 12.45pm – Sky Sports
Everton v Wolverhampton 3pm
Man City v Newcastle 3pm
Stoke v QPR 3pm
Sunderland v Fulham 3pm
West Brom v Bolton 3pm
Wigan v Blackburn 3pm
Swansea v Man Utd 5.30 – ESPN