Premiership Preview - Fulham and Liverpool

Fulham
Last Season: 16th

Only a Clint Dempsey strike against a Liverpool reserve side on the penultimate weekend of last season saved Fulham from starting this campaign in the Championship.

The American has now been joined in the Fulham ranks by half the Northern Ireland side, courtesy of new(ish) manager Lawrie Sanchez and his desire to transfer his impressive international achievements onto the club stage.

Aaron Hughes, Chris Baird and Steven Davis are joined by international team-mate David Healy, who looks a master in his country’s shirt, but will have to improve his club form if he’s not to be considered a mere apprentice at Premiership level. Playing alongside him will be Diomansy Kamara, who incidentally is not Irish. The £6m striker arrives from West Brom with much to prove in the Premiership, and his pace and power will cause defences problems.

Fulham’s fortunes will more than likely depend on their established stars though. Brian McBride, their granite-like striker, will once again blooden the noses of the country’s established centre halves, goalkeeper Antti Niemi needs remain his usual reliable self and Papa Bouba Diop, the giant in the centre of Fulham’s midfield, will rampage up and down pitches across the land, trampling on those in his way.

Fulham’s away form has been terrible over the past couple of years, and that will have to improve if Sanchez’s dreams of the top half are to be realised.

His squad has talent, and while they are extremely unlikely to trouble those in the top half of the table, they are certainly better than at least three teams in the division. Therefore, they stay up.

Key Man: Zat Knight. Showed huge potential as a youngster, now needs to realise that as one of the club’s senior pros.
One to Watch: Steven Davis. Fell out of favour at Villa under Martin O’Neill, now needs to rediscover the form that impressed Sir Alex Ferguson a couple of years ago.
This Season: Their awful away form will probably continue, but they’ll be fine.

Liverpool
Last Season: 3rd
When Liverpool finally make the move away from Anfield, those in charge of demolishing the old ground are likely to find several ‘missing pieces of the jigsaw’ buried below the Kop. The phrase is seemingly uttered every summer as the Reds unveil their newest big money signing, but still the wait for their first title since 1990 goes on.

The latest jigsaw completing component is £20m man Fernando Torres, who arrives from Spain with a fancy haircut and stellar reputation. Torres is a quality striker, possessing great pace and terrific finishing ability, but at just 23, he may need a while to get used to the English game, and so Dirk Kuyt and Peter Crouch could have to take on much of the goalscoring burden.

One man who won’t have to get used to the Premiership is Yossi Benayoun, who joins from West Ham, while Ryan Babel, the 20-year-old attacking talent who has already played several games for the Dutch national side, swaps Ajax for Anfield. It is potentially a more important signing than Torres.

A good start is vital. In previous years Liverpool’s title challenge was over before it had begun. It seemed as though they had given up in the league by February and were concentrating on Europe. All could change this time.

Rafa Benitez, ignoring the advice of many ‘experts’ around him, tends to prefer a squad containing several players who can hit the 10-15 goal mark, rather than recruiting the mythical ‘30 goal a season striker.’

Torres, Kuyt, Crouch, Steven Gerrard and new signing Andriy Voronin are all capable of hitting double figures, and with talents like Reina, Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Riise, Alonso, Mascherano, Pennant and, whisper it quietly, a fit again Harry Kewell playing alongside them, the Reds have a great chance to finally complete that jigsaw they’ve been working on for too long.

Key Man: Steven Gerrard. Of course. The best midfield player in the world needs to hit the ground running if the Reds are to conduct a serious title challenge.
One to Watch: Jermaine Pennant. Showing overdue signs of maturity, the winger has been impressive in pre-season and could surprise a few people who were too quick to write him off.
This Season: Is this finally their year? Only time will tell, but Rafa is better equipped than he’s ever been and will go mighty close.