Reds Kick Off League Campaign With Trip To Baggies

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Steve looking chuffed with his new job...
Image: expressandstar.com
Brendan Rodgers faces a relatively kind start to his Premier League season as Liverpool travel to the Midlands on Saturday to face West Bromwich Albion. The pre season friendlies and the start to the Europa League provided some relief to those football withdrawal symptoms but it's safe to say we're very close to being in full swing now.

Liverpool are in a good state concerning injuries with no real problems after Joe Cole made a quick recovery from a hamstring pull. For West Brom they will have to take a look at Morrison and Olsson who gained small injuries whilst on international duty. Also unavailable for the Baggies is the pretty influential Graham Dorrans.

The last time the two sides met was in April this year. Another rather embarrassing defeat for Liverpool saw Roy Hodgson's side collect all three points after an Odemwingie goal sealed the win. In general terms, Liverpool have a pretty good record against West Brom winning 46% of all 137 matches between the two sides. West Brom are always capable of causing an upset though.

How can we forget of course that not only are West Brom probably fancying their chances they also have new manager Steve Clarke at the helm. Familiar with Liverpool from working under Kenny Dalglish last season will this aid Clarke in Saturday's clash or will Brendan's new tactics completely fluster him?

Stat Sandwich

  • Liverpool haven't won their opening game in the last 3 seasons.
  • Only the relegated teams from last season clocked up more losses at home than West Brom.
  • Liverpool only won 14 matches in the league last season.

The excitement is definitely rising now that the start of the Premier League is around the corner and with Borini and Allen signed and also the airing yesterday of the signing of Assaidi (a mystery man to myself in all honesty) people are beginning to anticipate the set up that Rodgers will employ.

I've joined This Is Anfield's prediction league this year because I'm bored of doing fantasy teams and then not bothering with them about 3 months down the line. If you're a reader of the blog you'll know that predictions aren't exactly my strong point and this year I have a reason to attempt to make a prediction for every game so this should be fun.

This time I've gone for 2-1 to Liverpool. I was tempted with 2-0 but changed my mind at the last click haha. Whatever the scoreline it would be brilliant to get off to a winning start and I'd love to see Borini score his first Premier League goal.

Enjoy the match folks!