Preview: Utrecht vs Liverpool

Liverpool’s first ever trip to Dutch
side Utrecht this Thursday night
in the Europa League will see the
Reds looking to take six points
from their opening two games of
the group stages of the
competition.
For Dirk Kuyt, it will be a warm
return to the club he began his
footballing career at back in
1998. The Dutch international
forward played for Utrecht for
five years, before switching to
Feyenoord in 2003.
Roy Hodgson’s men will be
looking to bounce back from a
string of poor results
domestically, having lost to
Manchester United and drawn
with Sunderland in the Premier
League, and an embarrassing
Carling Cup exit at the hands of
Northampton Town.
But the manager faces
somewhat of a problem in
defence, with no left-backs fit to
play. Paul Konchesky is suffering
from a hamstring strain picked
up in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at
home to Sunderland, whilst the
elusive Fabio Aurelio is still
carrying an achilles problem
picked up in last month’s Europa
League qualifier against
Trabzonspor. And with Daniel
Agger out injured, Hodgson has
limited options.
Steven Gerrard also misses the
trip and with a must-win Premier
League clash at home to
Blackpool on Sunday afternoon,
Hodgson could be forgiven for
resting some of the bigger
players of the team.
However, earlier this week the
new Reds boss hinted that he
will use the game to see more of
Fernando Torres, Raul Meireles
and Dirk Kuyt, whom he thought
linked up well together against
the Mackems.
David N’gog could be in line to
miss out on a starting place,
despite his impressive form in
front of goal this season.
Liverpool squad to face Utrecht:
Reina, Jones, Johnson, Kelly,
Kyrgiakos, Skrtel, Carragher,
Shelvey, Poulsen, Lucas,
Rodriguez, Spearing, Babel,
Meireles, Jovanovic, Cole, Kuyt,
Eccleston, Ngog, Torres.
Utrecht vs Liverpool gets
underway at 6pm on Thursday,
30th September.