Liverpool v Anzhi Makhachkala:BRENDAN RODGERS is prepared to risk Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard ahead of the Merseyside derby in an attempt to protect Liverpool's Europa League ambitions against Anzhi Makhachkala.
Liverpool lie third in Group A following the home defeat by Udinese and host the Russian league leaders tonight knowing another Anfield setback will seriously undermine their qualification prospects. As a consequence, and despite facing the first Merseyside derby of his Liverpool reign at Everton on Sunday, Rodgers will not make wholesale changes for the visit of Guus Hiddink’s Anzhi.
Suarez is Liverpool’s only available senior striker following injury to Fabio Borini and the loan departure of Andy Carroll, but will not be spared ahead of the trip to Goodison Park.
Likewise Gerrard, Liverpool’s 32-year-old captain, plus Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger, the first-choice central defence who are expected to be retained against Samuel Eto’o, the highest paid player in the world following last year’s transfer from Inter.
“Eto’o is fantastic, a household name, but we have good defenders like Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel who will let him know they’re around,” said Liverpool’s assistant manager Colin Pascoe. “Anzhi are a strong unit, a big team, as in big players.
“We have swapped and changed things around in Europe before this season but we are looking at this as a very important and hard game, and will probably go a bit stronger than we have done before.
“We are at home and we put the onus on ourselves to win against tough opposition.”
Pascoe insists the club’s players are fully focused on the clash with Anzhi and that they will not be distracted by thoughts of that Merseyside derby, even though defeat would see them fall nine points behind their neighbours in the Premier League.
Pascoe said: “The boys are looking forward to Anzhi. Everton against Liverpool is a massive game, but it hasn’t been talked about and isn’t being thought about at the moment.”
Liverpool will again be without Spanish goalkeeper Jose Reina tonight and the club are unsure whether the goalkeeper will recover from his hamstring problem in time to play in Sunday’s game.
Reina, who picked up the injury on international duty with Spain and subsequently missed the 1-0 league win over Reading last Saturday, was quoted on Tuesday as saying he was “getting better, little by little”, although he added that he was prepared to be “patient”.
Brad Jones deputised for Reina in the Reading game and is set to do so once more tonight.
Jones is fully aware of Eto’o’s threat, but says that given the calibre of players he has to contend with every day in training with Liverpool, he is not worried by the prospect of facing the Cameroon international.
“For me, playing against whoever, it doesn’t particularly bother me which player it is – it is the same idea when you go out, which is that you don’t want to concede goals,” Jones said.
“Obviously Eto’o is a fantastic player and has been for a number of years, playing at the top.
“You know you are going to have to be on top of your game, but I have to do that every day with the likes of Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard anyway.
“It is just about making sure you concentrate and do the right things.”
