Ex-Spurs Strikeforce In Red's Reunion

This season's first 'North-West derby' commences this Saturday following the international break, which saw many of our players jetting off all over the globe to play for their respective countries. But this simultaneously allowed time for new signings, fresh from the closure of the transfer window, to train at Melwood and current players to recover from their injuries.
Team news ahead of this clash at Anfield will inevitably focus on the added assets of both teams, totalling a staggering £50million. Keane and Berbatov may come head-to-head for the first time competitively and become embroiled in one of the most infamously ferocious encounters during this season.
Unfortunately, such matches have looked favourably towards the Mancunians in recent times, with the history of the last 4 Benitez years in the Premier League reading: 0 wins, 1 draw and 7 losses. Now for this opinionated fan, the most recent games (bar the embarrassing 3-0 mauling, not helped by the idiotic Bennett), we have dominated throughout and ended up losing, either because we haven't been clinical enough or simply unlucky. And as a precursor to this game, the public slanging commences and is not so surprisingly initiated by the Scotsman. This time we hope to see the jibe from SAR on our Robbie backfire, akin to the Rafa/Drogba mess in the Champions League.
The news leading up to this Top Four meeting is not positive, as the two most influential players we have are more than likely going to be out - Gerrard with a persistent groin problem that was operated on, and Torres who pulled his hamstring against Villa. This could however be put into some sort of perspective, by the absence of Ronaldo and Hargreaves from the opposition, negatively effecting their start to the season.
This game may see the introduction of our new left winger, who has had just under 2 weeks available to train and prepare with the team. Some primary advantages for him to settle quickly at LFC is his command of English, his nationality as his fellow countrymen rife at the club and his time in Manchester in 2006. He has past experience of this league during his time with City, and has been involved in high profile games with his former club Espanyol, such as the UEFA Cup Final in 2007 where he scored against the defending champions Sevilla. He is seen as the outlet on the wing to display his technique and provide bombarding deliveries for our strikers. Such an option has not been forthcoming with the nature of forwards Kuyt, Babel and Benayoun. Keane has still to make his mark in a Red shirt and with the two so often heralded members of the team missing, we need to see new leaders step forward and perform.
During the season, it is often speculated by pundits that to win the title you have to take points off you're competitors. As of late, Liverpool FC have generally underachieved in this area, be it deserved or not. We are entering this match with a heavily depleted team, who have played poorly in the opening matches. And we are going to face the club and manager successfully chasing down our record with two consecutive championships. So all I can surmise is that we can only hope for the best this time.