Into the Tiger's Den: Livepool v Hull City Preview

UK: SkySports1 at 2:00pm

US: NBC Sports at 9:00am ET

Coming off a crazy, emotionally draining Derby Liverpool will look to keep their place in the table and their excellent run of form going with three points against Hull. As the table gets more and more compact, there is little room for error and this is three points they should pickup. The table is so ridiculous that even Newcastle are knocking on the door of a CL spot.

Hull City currently sit in 13th place, but Liverpool cannot afford to take these teams lightly. Hull haven't had the best run leading up to this with 3 of their last 4 ending in defeat. However, they have been fairly resolute at home with only their most recent loss to Palace coming at home. This could make for a side that will be difficult for Liverpool to breakdown. Curtis Davies also appears to be on track for a return against Liverpool as of now which will surely bolster the home side.

As for Liverpool, the token draw after an international break is over and they will have had a full week now to recover from the Derby and international play. However, Sturridge is now a doubt as he rolled his ankle in training. Iago Aspas though should be nearing fitness, although even if fit it is unlikely he'll play. The only other injury is the long term knee injury Enrique is suffering. Given Flanagan's excellent display during the Derby it is very likely we'll see him again.

With a match on Wednesday, it will be important for Liverpool to keep their focus on the task at hand and not get caught peeking at the calendar. With a Hull side on the slide, this should be three point for Liverpool, but then again that is why you play the game. Nothing is a guarantee in this Premier League of mediocrity.

Some pre-match thoughts:

-This may be a game where we see Rodgers revert to the 3-5-2. Given Hull have only scored 9 goals in total, there shouldn't be a ton of defending to do. (Adam)

-That said, Flanagan's excellent performance should justify inclusion in the squad. (Adam)

-Squad selection will be interesting since Liverpool also have a home match against Norwich on Wednesday. However, there should be no reason the squad can't afford to play in both given the lack of fixtures this year with no Europe and being knocked out of the Mickey Mouse Cup early. (Adam)

-Given Arsenal's victory over Cardiff, these three points are very important to keeping pace with Arsenal now temporarily 7 points clear. On a side note, I'm not looking forward to playing Cardiff.

-With Sturridge sidelined most likely due to his ankle, I'd be curious to see how Moses would do filling the same role.