Liverpool vs FC Sion Match Preview

By Joel Lampkin

The second round of Europa League fixtures take place this week, and Liverpool face Swiss side FC Sion at home at 8:00 UK start time. The red men go into the fixture with confidence after beating Aston Villa by three goals to two on Saturday which relieves major pressure on Brendan Rodgers for his signature. Daniel Sturridge showed his quality to produce two excellent goals and showed glimpses of the type of football that helped Liverpool to their success in the 2013/2014 season.
FC Sion are struggling with form as of late and are slipping further and further from the top 3 in the Swiss league, FC Basel lead the way on 27 points almost double what FC Sion have maintained with 14 points from 10 games. FC Sion will be a relatively unknown outfit when they return to Merseyside on Thursday for the First time since 31st october 1996, where they were beaten 6-3 by Roy Evans' men.

Liverpool will be without Dejan Lovren and Sakho is expected to retain his place in the starting line up.  In the last europa league fixture Brendan Rodger's named a very young and inexperience side, he may repeat this, with Jordan Rossiter and other younger stars calling for game time.
Divock Origi may well play as a lone striker with possibly Adam Lallana in the central attacking role. Joe Gomez is expected to return to the squad with players like Alberto Moreno, Cameron Brannagan, Emre Can,  Pedro Chirivrella all expected to feature. Brendan Rodgers would be walking on thin ice and would expect heavy calls for his dismissal should Liverpool deliver anything but a win. Many fans remain unchanged with their view on the northern Irishman still claiming his time at Anfield has run its course.  Jurgen Klopps odds of becoming new Liverpool manager are at 6/4 with Sky Bet and Carlo Ancellotti remains a heavy favourite at 6/4 also with Bet Victor.

Fc Sion's previous visit to Anfield nearly nearly 20 years ago saw them go 2 goals up in quick succession before Mcmanaman gave hope to the Liverpool crowd to make it 2-1, Anfield was home to a legendary second half still fondly remembered by those who played. Bjornbye curled a free kick home to level the game at 2-2 but the ecstacic revival was short lived as FC Sion pulled ahead to make it 3-1 thanks to Chassot, who rounded Liverpool goalkeeper David James and slotted home.

John Barnes showed his still had what it took at the highest level as he back heeled the ball past Sion goalkeeper Lehman to make it 3-3 where Liverpool took emphatic control of the game, within two minutes both Fowler and McManaman combined to take the score to a thrilling 5-3 and to top everything off, Patrick Berger slotted home after being left one-on-one with the goalkeeper to make it 6-3 and cap off a memorable european night at Anfield. Liverpool however lost to PSG 5-3 in their next two fixtures on aggregate to end their European un that season.

Check out the Highlights from the historic fixture here:


Liverpool would be expected to win comfortably at Anfield but their shaky start to the season should be an indication to not take FC Sion lightly.
With a young and weakened side expected to take to the field, the senior players who will feature must step up and be a shining light as to why they deserve their place in the starting XI. As one of the most important fixtures of the season looms this Sunday at Goodison in the Merseyside derby. The current league standing see Everton above Liverpool by 4 places but still a point just separates the two clubs with 7 games played this season
*Sunday's derby will be first meeting since Steven Gerrard left Liverpool for LA Galaxy.