Capital One Cup preview: Liverpool v Swansea

Brendan Rodgers

Halloween sees Brendan Rodgers visited by ghosts of his past, but he’ll be hoping that Swansea City are more like Casper than anything Charles Dickens came up with.

Wednesday will almost be five months to the day since Rodgers swapped South Wales for Merseyside and signed on to become the latest in an increasing line of men tasked with restoring Liverpool to former glories, and although it has hardly been plain sailing so far there are signs that the Northern Irishman is starting to steer his side towards calmer waters.

A trophy would help, and with Liverpool granted a home tie against Swansea for a place in the quarter-finals then their chances of retaining this renamed competition have surely gone up.

The Reds didn’t play at Anfield during last season’s successful Carling Cup run until the second leg of the semi-final victory over Manchester City, but with the relocation to home turf comes an added pressure which Rodgers will have to manage.

He’s likely to be managing it without star turns Steven Gerrard and Luis Suárez as the duo are rested following a taxing week which included matches against Anzhi Makhachkala and Everton, and with an intriguing home clash with Newcastle United to follow at the weekend.

Stewart Downing, the goalscoring hero of that Anzhi game, and Sebastian Coates, Jonjo Shelvey and Jordan Henderson, who appeared from the bench against Everton, are all likely starters here amongst others on the fringes, but both Pepe Reina and Glen Johnson have been ruled out ahead of probable returns against Newcastle. Joe Allen stands by ready to face his former club.

It is a club who haven’t really looked back since the departures of Rodgers and Allen and who currently sit 11th in the league table, a point and a place ahead of Liverpool.

In Michu they possess one of the signings of the season, and the Spanish star – who has scored the same amount of goals in the Premier League as Suárez during this campaign – has spoken of the pride he’ll feel at running out at Anfield ahead of a Halloween night when he and his team-mates can give Liverpool more than just a fright.

Rodgers’ replacement in the manager’s chair Michael Laudrup has stressed that he sees this as just another game despite the meeting with his predecessor, and he is likely to drum that into his players ahead of a match in which he’ll make changes from the weekend loss at Manchester City.

Goalkeeper Michel Vorm will be out for around two months with the groin injury he picked up in that game, and so the experienced German Gerhard Tremmel begin his stint as his replacement.

Nathan Dyer and Danny Graham are pressing for recalls after starting the City loss from the bench, and Laudrup could also give starts to Garry Monk, Kemy Agustien and Itay Shechter at Anfield.

Tricks and treats are likely to be in store in what should be an entertaining game, and it should be Liverpool who emerge from it still in the Capital One Cup as their defence of the trophy reaches the last eight.

Away from the TV cameras at Stamford Bridge, Wednesday’s only other tie is the all Premier League meeting between Norwich and Tottenham at Carrow Road.

The clash will be a haunting reminder for Spurs boss André Villas-Boas, who came under huge pressure following a 1-1 draw at home to the Canaries in early September which made it no wins from his first three matches.

Things have taken a huge turn for the better since though, and with Spurs now fourth in the Premier League table they should surely see the Capital One Cup as a terrific chance to gain silverware in Villas-Boas’s first season in charge.

Norwich will do everything in their power to stop them, but with Chris Hughton set to ring the changes with a big league game at home to Stoke in mind, it should be Spurs who progress on an evening when goals will be valued above ghouls.

Mark Jones – follow me on Twitter

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