Liverpool must beware Birmingham late show
Liverpool face an obdurate Birmingham with question marks remaining over star players.
With Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Tottenham winning at the weekend Liverpool need to win if they are to keep pace with the top four. The international break can seem awfully long if you are itching to set right another poor result. Given that Liverpool have only won once in eight games since thrashing Hull in September they are due a win and with the injury list easing you would expect that the Liverpool revival would start with this game. But Liverpool must stop conceding soft, late goals - especially as Birmingham are late goal specialists.
Birmingham City started the weekend in fourteenth and uncomfortably one point over the relegation zone and wins for Blackburn and Hull have not improved that situation. Birmingham's season is based on an impressive defensive record that is on a par with the likes of Arsenal, Man United and Liverpool - so anyone expecting a big home win could be disappointed. The flipside is obviously the fact that Birmingham tend to be slow to attack, leaving most of their goals for very late in the game when there is little time to respond. If this game is 1-0 to Liverpool with 10 minutes left then it is far from over.
Liverpool vs Birmingham City; Kick Off 8:00pm 09 Nov 2009
Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).
Dave Blackburn : 2 - 0
Chris Cox : 3 - 1
Graham Enwright : 3 - 1
Sue Gardener : 1 - 2
Chris Goodwin : 1 - 1
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 2 - 1
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : 2 - 0
Peter Lee : 2 - 0
Don McMahon : 2 - 1
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 3 - 1
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : 2 - 0
Dave Nash : 1 - 0
Stephen Orford (sqf) : TBC
Tony Ratton : 2 - 1
Peter Rendle : 2 - 0
Dan Taylor : 2 - 1
Andy Wakeman : 2 - 1
Isaac Williams : TBC
Mark Williams : 2 - 0
Panel Verdict
The panel is expecting a 2-0 Liverpool win.
Home: 15; Draw: 1; Away: 1; TBC: 3.
* 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!
