Results tagged “fixtures” from Liverpool Banter - Join the debate with LFC fans, staff writers and club legends

Story by James Pearce

IT might not have been a blank cheque from the club's warring American owners but Rafa Benitez must still have been pleasantly surprised with the gift which arrived on the day he celebrated his fourth anniversary as Liverpool manager this week.

The Reds may have to travel on the opening day of the Premier League season for the fifth successive campaign but there was little else to complain about when the fixture computer produced its annual offering.

A trip to Roy Keane's Sunderland on Saturday, August 16 followed by a home clash with Middlesbrough undoubtedly gives the Reds a great chance to get off to a flyer.

WHEN I was a young lad, one of my favourite comic strips was The Numbskulls. It was in the Beezer I think, though I've a sneaking feeling they staged a comeback, a la Take That, in the Beano some years later.

Anyway, the basic idea was that there was this bloke who, instead of being full of organs, intestines and blood like the rest of us, was full of little people called the numbskulls, who fulfilled all his bodily functions.

So there were numbskulls shovelling food through his stomach; numbskulls pumping blood round his body; and more of the little blighters operating his brain and running messages up and down his body so that he could move around without falling over.

I THINK Liverpool's opening game up at Sunderland could suit Rafael Benitez's side.

It looks like there will be no Kenwyne Jones for the hosts as he picked up a nasty injury in Trinidad & Tobago's friendly with England and although Sunderland seem to have plenty of cash burning a hole in Roy Keane's pockets it's unlikely that he'll know his best team for the opener if he brings in a few new faces.

It's a good fixture for Liverpool as the pressure will be off and Sunderland will be trying to win rather than looking at their own points tally so early in the campaign.

LIVERPOOL will start their Premier League season away from Anfield for the fifth year in succession with a trip to Wearside to face Sunderland.

After Middlesbrough herald the start of the Anfield league season, the Reds' second away fixture curiously is at Aston Villa, a reversal of last season's opening two aways which saw victories at Villa Park and the Stadium of Light.

Liverpool entertain European champions Manchester United on September 13th with Rafa Benitez still looking for a first league win over his North-West rivals, with newly-promoted Stoke City due at Anfield a week later, before September ends with a trip across Stanley Park to face Everton at Goodison Park on September 27th