Tonight’s match against Sparta Prague will be the first time that Liverpool have ever faced the Czech club. In fact the Reds have only ever met one Czech team before in the form of Slovan Liberec, who they beat in their run to win the 2001 UEFA Cup final. Let’s hope that can be a good omen. It will remarkably be manager Kenny Dalglish’s first European match in charge of the Reds as the ban on English clubs after Heysel meant that Kenny’s great team of the late 80s was prevented from competing fo a European trophy.

So far this campaign, Liverpool are unbeaten in the Europa League during the ten matches already played. Previous manager Roy Hodgson tended to use a mixture of youth and reserve team players. With five youngsters in the squad that flew out to Prague (and Danny Wilson starting, see team sheet below), it shows that Kenny may continue to use the competition to blood some of the Reds’ young stars. With Luis Suarez cup tied and Andy Carroll not yet fit, a rare start for David Ngog will give the Frenchman the chance to show Kenny what he can do in a tricky away fixture in Prague.

Bet on David Ngog to score at 21/10 with BET 365. CLICK HERE OR BELOW!

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The team may revert to 3-5-2 (guessing!) after playing  a 4-2-3-1 formation against Wigan last week, and a lot will depend on Raul Meireles being the creative lynchpin in midfield. His five goals in six matches demonstrates the fine fettle of form and the chance of an away goal maybe firmly down to his creativity and linking up well with the forward line, in the absence of Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez.

Bet on Raul Meireles to score and Liverpool to win 1-0 at 22/1 with BET 365. CLICK HERE!

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The Reds have only conceded 1 goal in the last five games, securing a backline which was pretty leaky at the start of the season. Sparta Prague meanwhile have only lost one Europa League tie this season and have drawn 3 out of their last four matches in the competition suggesting that the tie could be a very tight affair. It could also be a dirty encounter too with Sparta conceding the most fouls in this season’s competition with 119.

In any case, it should be an interesting contest with Sparta looking to get a healthy lead before they return to Anfield for the second leg. The Reds have been pretty good so far in Europe this season, and with the addition of the newly found confidence instilled by Kenny Dalglish, a convincing win for the Reds is certainly not out of the question. Away goals are always crucial in the knock-out rounds, and with Dalglish’s positive attacking philosophy, it would be hard to bet against them scoring the crucial goal needed to take a lead back to Merseyside.

Bet on Liverpool to win 2-1 at 17/2 with BET 365. CLICK HERE OR BELOW!

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I would also like to invite all readers to join and play along with me during today’s match in Picklive’s Live Fantasy Football. PickLive is an ‘in play’ Fantasy Football Game, but unlike normal Fantasy games, it can be played in bite sized pieces. It’s not hard but you can do some reading up on it yourself with a DEMO, a ‘How To Play’ GUIDE, an explanation of the SCORING SYSTEM. Every reader can get a FREE TRIAL HERE and it’s a great way to enjoy the game live, and win a bit of money too! The greater amount of people playing, the bigger the prize pot so please get your friends to join in.

There are two game modes to choose from. BIG Game and Live Game. BIG Game is where you choose five players from either team for the entire 90 minutes. You get points for goals, assists, passes completed and successful tackles while you get points deducted for fouls and miss passes. The Live Game is however even more competitive as you play in a 5 minute section of the game. You pick three players and watch live as their points accumulate during the allotted period of time. If your player is hopeless, you can substitute him for another, but be mindful as you are limited to the amount you can make! It’s a great way to enjoy today’s match so come and join me. Which players would you pick in your Picklive fantasy team?

Join Picklive AND GET A FREE TRIAL below:

Its live fantasy football! Become part of Liverpool v Sparta Prague tonight and play Picklive for FREE. A Free Trial for every reader here

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Team News:

GK: Pepe Reina

RWB: Glen Johnson

LWB: Fabio Aurelio

CB: Jamie Carragher

CB: Sotirios Kyrgiakos

CB: Danny Wilson

CM: Maxi Rodriguez

CM: Lucas Leiva

AM: Raul Meireles

ST: Dirk Kuyt

ST: David Ngog

Subs:

Peter Gulacsi

Martin Skrtel

Martin Kelly

Joe Cole

Milan Jovanovic

Dani Pacheco

Conor Coady

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INTRODUCING FIGHT NIGHT CHAMPION! . . .