Liverpool are still without captain
Steven Gerrard, who will not be fit to
return to the new year because of his
hamstring injury.
Manager Brendan Rodgers is also missing
striker Daniel Sturridge and defender Jose
Enrique.
Cardiff await news on whether ex-Liverpool
striker Craig Bellamy will be fit to face his
former club.
Aside from that, Bluebirds manager Malky
Mackay has a fully fit squad to select from.
Meetings between Cardiff and Liverpool
don't come along too often. This will be
the first since the Welsh club were beaten
in the League Cup final of 2012 by virtue of
a penalty shoot-out in which only half of
the 10 kicks were converted.
That was at Wembley of course, but
Cardiff's last visit to Anfield also finished
in defeat - 2-1 - also in the League Cup in
2007. You have to go back another 48
years for the next most recent clash, which
was surely the most significant of all.
It was 19 December 1959, and a Liverpool
team containing boot room legend-to-be
Ronnie Moran, future Chelsea boss Bobby
Campbell and later World Cup winner
Roger Hunt were beaten 4-0 in a Division
Two fixture by a Cardiff side heading for
promotion that season and helped at
Anfield that day by two goals from former
Arsenal striker Derek "Tappy" Tapscott.
This is all very interesting, but what made
this game really significant is that it was
the first in which Liverpool were managed
by Bill Shankly.
There are quite a few people wondering
whether this game, 54 years later almost to
the day, might not be the last in which
Cardiff are managed by Malky Mackay.
Mackay says he won't quit, and why
should he, but it seems that his
relationship with majority shareholder
Vincent Tan is one very small step from
being untenable. Tan, through chief
executive Simon Lim, has repeated his
assertion that Mackay overspent his
summer transfer budget, and that as a
result he'll get "not a single penny" to
spend in January.
Given that Iain Moody was sacked as head
of recruitment for this supposed
misdemeanour, it seems a bit petty to have
raised it again with the blame now being
firmly placed at Mackay's door.
If Tan sacks Mackay, and who'd bet against
it, he guarantees himself a storm of
protest from fans already being peddled
shirts that are red instead of blue. He
guarantees himself a major headache in
finding a credible replacement willing to
work under his regime, and he might just
guarantee himself a swift return to the
Championship. Like Moody, Mackay would
not be out of work for long.
Players, managers and owners tend to
come and go; some all too quickly and
some not quickly enough, but Cardiff's
magnificently vocal supporters deserve
better.
Head-to-head
Cardiff have won on eight of their
15 visits to play at Anfield in all
competitions.
Their last meeting in any
competition was the League Cup
final in 2012. Liverpool won on
penalties after the match finished
2-2 following extra time.
Cardiff have won twice as many
matches as Liverpool in their
previous 30 encounters. Cardiff
have won 18 times and Liverpool
nine, with three draws.
Liverpool
Luis Suarez has scored 17 goals in
11 league games this season, which
is more than 10 of the 20 teams in
the Premier League.
Liverpool have scored 25 Premier
League goals before half-time this
season, more than any other side.
The Reds have scored 14 goals in
their last three league games and
have scored 79 goals in 2013 - four
more than Man City.
They have scored three or more
goals in three consecutive top-
flight league matches for the first
time for 26 years, when they set a
club record of four matches with
four or more goals in 1987.
Liverpool have had the most goals
scored by English players in the
league this season (16).
Cardiff
The Bluebirds have won four
matches this season in the Premier
League, and they have all been by a
one-goal margin.
They have failed to score a first-
half goal in 13 Premier League
matches this season - the joint-
most in the top flight.
Peter Whittingham's 65th-minute
goal against West Brom last
weekend ended a run of 335
minutes in the Premier League
without one.YNWA

table await them by 4:0 win

YNWA