Filed under: Liverpool, Sunderland, Premier League, Football, Match Previews
PREMIER LEAGUE: ANFIELD, SATURDAY AUGUST 13, 2011. KICK-OFF: 1500 BSTFans at Anfield may well be forgiven for hardly recognising either side on display in this Premier League opener.
No two clubs have been busier than Liverpool and Sunderland in the transfer market with Kenny Dalglish and Steve Bruce both spending the summer wheeling and dealing in order to strengthen their squads.
They are clubs with different ambitions this season: Liverpool hope to get back into the Champions League elite of English football while Sunderland want to keep chipping away, continue improving and aim for a Europa League position.
Only time will tell whether their respective signings will aid and abet those ambitions but the calibre of players brought in cannot be disputed.
Liverpool have recruited former Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing, Alexander Doni and Jose Enrique while Sunderland have a new cast of thousands including Wes Brown, Keiren Westwood, Craig Gardner, David Vaughan and Connor Wickham.
Both clubs will have to be patient and allow their new players to bed in. Whether their respective fans will give them that time is a different matter and that is why three points on the opening day is crucial for both Dalglish and Bruce.
Form guide: Last season, Liverpool won 2-0 at the Stadium of Light but could only manage a 2-2 draw in the return fixture at Anfield.
Key match-up: Andy Carroll v Wes Brown. Carroll is desperate to get his season off to a positive start but Brown is an experienced and professional operator and will be equally as keen to have a sparking Premier League debut. He can do that best by keeping Carroll quiet.
Odds: Liverpool 5-11, Sunderland 8-1 Draw 3/1.
LIVERPOOL:
Dalglish believes Sunderland's fans should not target midfielder Henderson.
Sunderland were devastated to lose the England international to Liverpool earlier this summer as he was earmarked as a future north east great.
However, he opted for a move to Anfield rather than trying to improve at Bruce and he is likely to come in for some verbal abuse on Saturday as a result of that.
Yet Dalglish believes that any booing from Sunderland's fans will only reflect badly on the club.
He said: "Sunderland will be a difficult fixture. There's been a major turnaround of players there over the summer.
"We'll need to do a bit of revision and see which players Steve has brought in and let go. Their team will be very different to the one we faced back in March.
"Obviously Jordan is one they've lost. He's a good player who they would have been understandably reluctant to let go.
"But sometimes as a manager you've got to be philosophical and say if a player wants to go we should let him leave. I don't think Sunderland fans will have any animosity towards Jordan."
Strategy: Dalglish will want Carroll and Luis Suarez to come out firing. The duo never really had a sustained opportunity to work in tandem last season but now that Carroll is fully fit that is expected to change. Expect Adam, Dirk Kuyt and Stewart Downing to all pour forward as well in an attempt to ruin Sunderland's opening day.
Injury Update: Steven Gerrard will be absent with a groin problem, Martin Skrtel has a calf strain while Jay Spearing is a doubt with a foot problem.
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