Venue: Wembley Date: 26/02/12 Kick Off: 4:00pm
The date that has been in every Liverpool fans diary since the conquering of Manchester City in the semi-final is only a matter of hours away as the mighty Reds take on Championship high fliers Cardiff at Anfield South or what is known to non-reds as Wembley on Sunday. This will be LFC’s first game at the national stadium in 16 years whilst Cardiff played there as recently as 2010 where they lost the play-off final to Blackpool.
Cardiff are on a great run at the moment as they find themselves fifth in the Championship and are much still in the race for automatic promotion after some disappointing play-off defeats in the past few years under the stewardship of Dave Jones. Since Malkay Mackay took the reins in the summer, the Bluebirds have continued their impressive League form and will hope to find the missing piece of the jigsaw at the end of the season. If they are to the hurt the reds on Sunday, it is imperative that Peter Whittingham and Kenny Miller are on top form to punish the Liverpool defence which has been impressive this season.
In complete contrast to the Welsh side, King Kenny’s men have been very disappointing in the league this season but in complete contrast their form they’ve been almost impeccable in the Cup competitions this year. Since the second round tie at St James’s Park against Exeter back in August, Dalglish has played his strongest side possible in each round and has not let complacency creep into his side. This is expected to continue on Sunday where Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard will almost certainly start. A 4-3-3 formation with Carroll, Suarez and Bellamy leading the line would surely be too much for Cardiff, especially since the Welshman has been pivotal in the run to Wembley.
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As for what will happen? It is impossible to predict. The Reds will go into this game as overwhelming favourites and will be virtually on a hiding to nothing. They will be wary of previous upsets in this competition. A look back to last season will show that upsets can happen, when lowly Birmingham beat Arsenal 2-1 and the Gunners season suddenly crashed around them. It can’t happen on Sunday for the sake of Liverpool’s season. And let’s hope it doesn’t.
All together now: ‘We’re on the March..’
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