European football returns on Thursday as we head to the Netherlands to face Dirk Kuyt’s former team FC Utrecht.
The Dutch outfit has had a poor start domestically and are currently sitting in 12th place on the Eredivisie table. The player to watch for is the young Dutchman Ricky van Wolfswinkel who was also linked with a move to Anfield earlier this Summer.
As for the Reds we need a good performance to bring back some cheer following our disappointing games against Manchester United, Northampton Town and Sunderland. Unlike our domestic performance, the European performance under Roy Hodgson have been excellent, we have won all of our first five games. Utrecht away however will be our most difficult game so far.
Steven Gerrard didn’t travel as Roy opted to rest him, Fernando Torres traveled and is expected to feature tomorrow. Paul Konchesky and Fabio Aurelio are both injured while Daniel Agger did not travel with the squad. It looks like Roy will have to experiment a little to plug the left back hole, my bet is that Martin Skrtel might play in that position while others are betting on Martin Kelly.
Predicted line up:
Pepe Reina, Glen Johnson, Jamie Carragher, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Martin Skrtel, Lucas Leiva, Raul Meireles, Joe Cole, Dirk Kuyt, David Ngog, Fernando Torres
Follow me on Twitter for game updates @empireofthekop
More info on the Utrecht can be found here
Kick off is at 6PM
YNWA, come on Reds
-Antoine