Last season Marseille won at Anfield in this competition and started a
crisis that almost cost boss Rafael Benitez his job. Since then
Liverpool have beaten Marseille three times, with Gerrard scoring four
goals.
Benitez controversially opted to name midfielder Xabi Alonso among his
substitutes as Lucas Leiva was offered an opportunity alongside Javier
Mascherano, and Fulham comfortably dealt with the tactic.
Villa gave Spain the lead from the penalty spot before second-half
efforts from Torres, who netted soon after replacing the Valencia
hitman before Cazorla sealed the win as the Euro 2008 winners extended
their unbeaten run to 28 matches.
Dirk Kuyt gave the scoreline a more accurate look with the third goal
in stoppage time. Holland have won three out of three in Group Nine
and even Kim Kallstrom's goal seconds after coming on as a second-half
substitute to halve the deficit could not hide their dominance.
A late John Terry header ensured England continued their resurgence
under Fabio Capello with a 2-1 victory over Germany in Berlin to end
2008 on a high. The Three Lions, who recorded a famous 5-1 success on
their last visit to Germany, took a scrappy lead in the 23rd minute as
centre-back Matthew Upson poked home after Rene Adler had flapped at a
Stewart Downing corner.
After the break, England continued to enjoy the better of proceedings
but substitute goalkeeper Scott Carson endure a horrible mix-up with
Terry to allow Germany striker Patrick Helmes to equalise on 63
minutes. Terry headed a late winner at the Olympic Stadium after
Matthew Upson's first-half opener was cancelled out by Patrick Helmes,
and the Chelsea defender was pleased to secure the win.
Injuries forced Fabio Capello to name an experimental line-up in
Wednesday's friendly in Berlin, with Aston Villa striker Gabriel
Agbonlahor making his debut. But an England side which also included
fringe players such as Shaun Wright-Phillips, Michael Carrick and
Stewart Downing put on a highly impressive performance.
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has scooped the Barclays Manager of the Month award for October. The Reds won all four of their Premier League games in October to send them top of the table for a spell.
England asked Gerrard to report for duty but he has now had to
officially pull out following a check by the Football Association's
medical staff. Fellow midfielder Frank Lampard will also miss out
after scans on a rib injury he picked up in Chelsea's game at West
Brom on Saturday revealed he would not be fit enough to be involved at
the Olympic Stadium.
Scott Parker of West Ham and Fulham's Jimmy Bullard have been called
up to replace Gerrard and Lampard. The likes of Wayne Rooney, Rio
Ferdinand, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole are also absent through injury,
but captain John Terry has been declared fit following a foot problem.
Liverpool have never enjoyed Bolton's physical approach but this time
they stuck to their gameplan and won with fine goals from Dirk Kuyt
and Steven Gerrard.
Liverpool had deservedly taken the lead just before the half-hour when
Dirk Kuyt brilliantly headed home a Fabio Aurelio cross. Despite some
more nervous moments, the Reds eventually sealed victory when Gerrard
dived into the six-yard box to head in a Fernando Torres cross.
Daniel Agger has demanded improvement from Liverpool as they look to sustain their Premier League title challenge with victory at Bolton on Saturday. The centre-back was the only player retained in the starting 11 for the midweek Carling Cup defeat against Tottenham.
Amid reports that Liverpool are struggling to fulfill their debt
repayment schedule, there has been speculation that they could sell
Torres. However, but the 24-year-old says he has no intention of
leaving the club. Liverpool are enjoying an impressive start to the a
season and Torres admits he can sense the fans want the title.
Spurs raced into a 3-0 lead with a devastating spell of three goals in
six minutes at the end of the first half thanks to efforts from Roman
Pavlyuchenko (38) and Fraizer Campbell 42, 45). Liverpool pulled a
goal back four minutes after the break with Damien Plessis' header
from Ryan Babel's corner the visitors' first attempt on target.
Tottenham quickly snuffed out any threat of a Liverpool comeback with
Pavlyuchenko netting his second goal of the night on 52 minutes.
Liverpool gave themselves hope with a second goal on 63 minutes in
what was almost a carbon copy of their first as Sami Hyypia headed
home Babel's corner.
Keane scored twice, his first Premiership goals since the £20.5 million summer move from Tottenham, as Liverpool beat West Brom 3-0 at Anfield yesterday. The Liverpool boss also hope that Keane will be okay from now on, as he has been playing well and worked hard for the team.
Keane's second came when he rounded Scott Carson a couple of minutes before the break and Alvaro Arbeloa added the gloss in injury time. Liverpool have now beaten West Brom in their last 10 meetings and wiped away the memory of losing their unbeaten record at Spurs last weekend. Fernando Torres made his return after a six-game absence with a hamstring injury, but initially only as far as the bench.
The striker has not played since the last international break on October 15 but both the Liverpool boss and captain Steven Gerrard are confident the 24-year-old will return against the midlands side.
