Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge will not feature in the FA Cup fourth round match against West Ham.
Dejan Lovren could return to the Liverpool line-up for the first time in six matches following a hamstring injury.
West Ham will be without three strikers, with Andy Carroll, Diafra Sakho and Manuel Lanzini all injured.
Slaven Bilic is hopeful that Mark Noble will be fit despite missing training on Thursday with flu.
Editor’s Note: West Ham have already beaten Liverpool twice this season and will be looking to make it a hat trick of wins this evening as they travel to Anfield in this F.A. Cup 4th Round encounter. Earlier on in the season West Ham enjoyed a 3-0 win here and in the reverse fixture managed to get a 2-0 win in what was a forgettable performance for Jurgen Klopp’s side
If you are a Liverpool fan then you would have probably aged about 10 years in the past week or so as a ludicrous 9 goal thriller at Carrow Road was tense enough but then the end had to suffer the lottery of the Penalty Shoot Out on Tuesday which they thankfully came through as they disposed of Stoke and managed to secure a place in the Capital One Cup Final on February 28
It was another under par performance on Tuesday to be fair especially in the first half although they did come into the game a bit more as the game developed but they will certainly be thankful for the 1 goal advantage they had from the first leg as they didn’t really deserve to advance solely on Tuesday’s effort
In the 3rd Round Liverpool took 2 attempts to get past League Two Exeter City but Jurgen Klopp did make 11 changes to that side and it will be interesting to see how many changes are made for this evenings clash especially as his side played more than two hours in Midweek.
That in itself might play into West Ham’s hands as they will no doubt be the more fresher of the two sides and after already getting the better of them twice this season will certainly fancy their chances. It’s also 7th plays 6th this Evening so the game could be very evenly matched
West Ham have failed to win their last two league matches but were considered unfortunate not to get all 3 points over Manchester City last Saturday as Sergio Aguero grabbed a late equaliser and then The Hammers hit the woodwork with the last touch of the game
Carl Jenkinson could be ruled out for the season while Sam Byram is cup tied for this tie so there could be an issue as to who fill in at Right Back and also Slaven Bilic’s side are a bit light up front but Enner Valencia bagged a brace on Saturday so expect him to lead the line against Liverpool
The result will ride on how many changes Jurgen Klopp makes for this tie, I expect he will give West Ham more caution than he did Exeter so don’t expect to see a de facto reserve team but with Liverpool potentially leggy, I reckon West Ham have more than enough of a chance of taking this one back to Upton Park. A draw for me
