Liverpool vs Swansea City. Premier League.
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Sunday 29 November 2015 16:42, UK
Liverpool are hoping midfielder Philippe Coutinho will be fit for their Premier League clash at home to Swansea on Sunday.
Jurgen Klopp is seeking a first home league win as Liverpool boss, and the Reds come into the game off the back of a fine 4-1 win at Manchester City and a 2-1 Europa League victory over Bordeaux on Thursday night.
Swansea, meanwhile, are on a poor run of form, and have won just won Premier League game since the end of August, with pressure building on Garry Monk.
Monk insists he has the trust of chairman Huw Jenkins but knows his side need to start performing if they are to come close to matching last season's eighth placed finish.
Team news
Klopp will wait until the last minute to assess the fitness of Coutinho who missed the win over Bordeaux with a hamstring problem sustained at Manchester City last weekend.
Klopp will also take a late view on striker Daniel Sturridge, who reported a foot problem in the week, but midfielder Lucas Leiva is suspended meaning Joe Allen is likely to deputise.
England midfielder Jonjo Shelvey misses Swansea's trip to his former club through suspension.
Shelvey sits out the game at Anfield after collecting five bookings, but apart from that Monk has a full squad to choose from for Sunday's Premier League game.
Federico Fernandez, Jack Cork, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Jefferson Montero and Bafetimbi Gomis are all under consideration after missing the 2-2 home draw against Bournemouth last weekend, which extended Swansea's poor league run to only one win from nine games.
Opta stats
Liverpool have won five and lost none of the last seven meetings between the teams in all competitions.
Swansea have won just one of their last seven Premier League away games (L4 D2) and just one of the last nine overall (L5 D3).
Liverpool have won 11 and lost none of their 14 league meetings with the Swans at Anfield, scoring an average of 3.3 goals per match and netting four or more in nine of those games.
Shelvey has found the back of the net in three of the last four meetings between Liverpool and Swansea, scoring twice for the Swans and netting one own goal.
Merson's prediction
I got it horribly wrong last week with Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp did a job on Manchester City.
But Liverpool have to get consistency. They're not a bad team, but their consistency levels haven't been great over the past 18 months. This is a game where they've got to win, and win quite comfortably.
If they can start at a tempo like they did against City, they'll be all over Swansea and rip them to shreds. They can't let Swansea pass the ball about, but if they play anywhere near where they did last week, which was the performance of the week without doubt, they'll steamroll them.
The pressure on Garry Monk isn't right. Where are they supposed to be? The most disappointing thing for them was losing to Hull in the Capital One Cup. He's having a bad time, but every manager has a bad time, and you have to stick with them.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0 (9/1 with Sky Bet)
Betting
Liverpool are Sky Bet's 4/9 favourites with the draw available at 100/30. The Swans have won only once in their last nine Premier League fixtures and, at 6/1, are the biggest price of all the away sides in action this weekend.
They have also conceded 13 goals in their last three trips to Anfield and the Reds, fresh from their thumping win at Manchester City, are 15/8 to score three or more goals in the match. Coutinho has scored four goals in his last three matches for Klopp's men and is 15/8 to extend his scoring run and 11/2 to net the opener.
