Premier League preview: Liverpool v Fulham

Liverpool will be hoping the return of captain Steven Gerrard can inspire them to victory against Fulham on Wednesday.

Gerrard will come straight back into the Liverpool first team for Wednesday’s Premier League encounter at Anfield after serving a three-game suspension for his straight red card against Manchester United in the FA Cup.

The Reds enter the match against Mark Hughes’ side on a high after a resounding 3-0 win at Wolves on Saturday, which snapped a four-game winless run and moved them up to 11th on the Premier League table.

And manager Kenny Dalglish believes Gerrard’s return could inspire the Reds to another surge up the table.

“Your captain being available after missing three games will be a fantastic lift for everybody,” Dalglish said.

“We had a great result and performance at Molineux on Saturday and we’ve got a very difficult game coming up against Fulham on Wednesday, so for us to have Steven back on the back of the performance and result we got at the weekend is a great boost for everybody.”

Liverpool’s form this season has been patchy at best, with encouraging wins too often followed by disappointing losses against lower-ranked sides.

A leaky defence will be a major concern for Dalglish, with Liverpool keeping just seven clean sheets in 23 league matches this season.

On the other hand, they come up against one of the worst attacks in the Premier League on Wednesday, with only four sides having scored less goals than Mark Hughes’ men this season.

With Bobby Zamora out with a broken leg, much of the goal-scoring responsibility has fallen to American midfielder Clint Dempsey, who has eight goals for the season, including a double in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Stoke.

Worryingly for Hughes, none of his recognised strikers have scored more than two goals for the campaign.

Wednesday’s match will be the first time the two sides have met this season, with the corresponding fixture lat year ending in a 0-0 draw.