Liverpool travel down south to meet Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. It’s the fifth round of the F.A Cup and both sides will be fancying their chances in the competition as the last round produced so many shocks. Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City and Southampton; four of the Premier League’s top four currently were all knocked out.
Crystal Palace were the ones who knocked out Southampton. It was a fantastic result for Alan Pardew’s men who came out 3-2 winners at St. Mary’s. Marouane Chamakh notched a brace whilst Yaya Sanogo, who is injured for this fixture, scored the other.
Liverpool left it late to get past Bolton Wanderers. Liverpool were 1-0 down in the 84th minute, but two late goals from Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho seen Brendan Rodgers’ team earn themselves a trip down to London and a ground that has been a bit of a ‘bogey’ ground in recent times.
Palace cruised past the Reds when they met earlier in the season. Despite Rickie Lambert opening the scoring early on, Palace equalized through Dwight Gayle not so long after. Joe Ledley put the Eagles in front late on in the game, before Mile Jedinak scored an excellent free-kick for then, Neil Warnock’s men. Times have changed now, though. Alan Pardew is the man leading Palace and has done a brilliant job thus far.
The 3-1 back in November
(cpfc.co.uk)
Liverpool have come on a lot since then, though. Brendan Rodgers’ men look a different proposition with their new formation Rodgers discovered. They’ve been occupying the 3-4-2-1 formation and haven’t looked back since. Their defending has improved so much, as it was a massive problem for the Reds. Emre Can, Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho have been so crucial to this. However, the influence of Simon Mignolet cannot be overlooked. The Belgian’s confidence was so low a couple of months ago, but he has shown recently that there is a top ‘keeper in there.
Despite my enormous praising of the back three, I’d change it for Saturday’s tie. Steven Gerrard and Lucas Leiva are both out for around a month and this leaves Liverpool light of numbers in the central midfield position. Jordan Henderson needs a partner and I’d like it to be Emre Can. This would involve Can being pushed into midfield and someone coming in to replace him in the back three. I’d like to give Dejan Lovren another chance. He looked good when he was called upon against Spurs in midweek and this is a game to risk it, I believe.
Jordon Ibe, though, is cup-tied as he featured for Derby during his loan spell. Adam Lallana to come in for him would be a good move, for me. Lazar Markovic being pushed back into right wing-back. Or Lallana could be the man for that role. You seen Rodgers experiment it with Lallana on the right against West Ham a couple of weeks ago. I’m not sure about the fitness of Raheem Sterling, I don’t think he’ll be risked, understandably.
Daniel Sturridge on the bench, for me. Mario Balotelli to start the game. Let’s see if his goal on Tuesday night can kick-start his Liverpool career. Also, Sturridge may be looked at the man to lead the line in the Europa League and therefore won’t be risked in this game. I wouldn’t be bothered seeing Sturridge start, though. I love watching the man play football.
The side I’d go for:
Choose your Liverpool team here.
Bobby Vincent
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