Liverpool go the south coast in search of a route through to the fifth round of the FA Cup on Saturday, when they face Championship side Bournemouth in the Saturday lunchtime game.
Bournemouth vs Liverpool
Saturday, 25th January 2014; 12.45pm kick-off
FA Cup Fourth Round
Goldsands Stadium
Liverpool will be hoping they go further in this season’s FA Cup than last season, when they were dumped out at the fourth round stage by Oldham Athletic.
Having beaten Oldham in the third round this season, not without trouble, the Reds face a trickier test in the form of Eddie Howe’s men.
Being the not-so-good souls that the Football Association and ITV are, this game is inexplicably the early kick-off on Saturday, meaning a very early start for Reds fans traveling down to Goldsands.
The draw for the fifth round will take place and Sunday afternoon and Brendan Rodgers’s will go into this game against Bournemouth expecting to be in it the following day.
The last time these two sides met was in the FA Cup third round in 1968, when Bill Shankly‘s Liverpool ran out 4-1 winners. West Brom won the Cup that season, beating Everton 1-0 in the final.
The opposition
Howe is enjoying a good second spell in charge of Bournemouth, who currently sit 16th in the Championship table, seven points clear of the relegation zone, and 10 points off the play-offs.
The Cherries beat Burton 4-1 in the third round of the FA Cup — a game that had to be rescheduled due to adverse weather conditions on the south coast in the original fixture.
Since then, they have drawn with Watford at home in the league, but were recently humbled away at Wigan. Uwe Rösler’s side beat Bournemouth 3-0 earlier this month.
Goalkeeper Lee Camp was ineligible for their third round victory over Burton, but returns for this game.
Team news
Liverpool are without right-back Glen Johnson, who Rodgers confirmed this week will be sidelined “indefinately” after a series of injuries and fitness problems.
They do, however, welcome back Jon Flanagan, who has been out since before Christmas with a hamstring problem, although Martin Kelly could start against Bournemouth, with Flanagan saved for Tuesday’s Merseyside derby against Everton.
Daniel Agger, Jose Enrique and Mamadou Sakho all miss out, whilst Rodgers may be inclined to rest some of his regular first-team starters.
TV coverage
The match is live on ITV 1 in the UK, and highlights on ITV at 10.45pm.
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