Liverpool looks to build momentum at Fulham
Fulham plays host to Liverpool, with both teams lower in the league than last season.
Fulham is missing some key players for today's game with Liverpool - Danny Murphy, Andrew Johnson and Simon Davies (who have all spent part of their career on Merseyside) - and will be significantly weaker than usual as a result. The likely central midfield pairing of Baird and Greening could well be overrun so Dempsey and Duff may well be asked to play slightly narrower and rely on Paintsill and Konchesky (if fit) to supply width from full back. The strikeforce of Zamora and Kamara works hard but is not prolific and it would be no surprise if only one starts to allow some more muscle to be pushed into midfield.
Lots of pundits are backing Fulham to win this one but only Arsenal has won more often in the top flight at Craven Cottage than Liverpool in the past 20 years - and Fulham has scored just once in the last six games with the Reds. Fulham is a profitable fixture for Liverpool. Liverpool's injury problems are easing with most of the squad available or set to return within a week it is hard to gauge just who will be available - but Liverpool will start with renewed confidence after beating Manchester United and will expect to win.
Fulham vs Liverpool; Kick Off 3:00pm 31 Oct 2009
Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).
Dave Blackburn : TBC
Chris Cox : 1 - 1
Graham Enwright : 1 - 2
Sue Gardener : 2 - 3
Chris Goodwin : 1 - 1
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 1 - 2
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : 1 - 1
Peter Lee : 0 - 1
Don McMahon : 0 - 1
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 0 - 1
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : 0 - 2
Dave Nash : 0 - 1
Stephen Orford (sqf) : 1 - 2
Tony Ratton : 1 - 2
Peter Rendle : 1 - 3
Dan Taylor : 1 - 1
Nick Tomkins : TBC
Bill Urban (sqf) : TBC
Andy Wakeman : 2 - 1
Isaac Williams : TBC
Mark Williams : 0 - 2
Panel Verdict
The panel is expecting a tight Liverpool win - 1-0 or 2-1.
Home: 1; Draw: 4; Away: 12; TBC: 5.
* Do we have it right, or do you know better? Please don't bother with derisory comments on the predictions after the match - unless you also pulled us up before it!
