The Fred Bassett Column

For the readers from the Norwich board I do one of these every day, but since this was half to do with you guys, I thought I should tag you.

Fred's Weekend Preview

So ladies and gentlemen, Friday is finally upon us which means for most of us a two day break from school/work/university/college, it's the day of the week our livers dread, but for football fans, this means one thing. The Premier League.

For Liverpool fans, this weekend sees the first visit of one of the newly promoted sides, as Norwich travel the width of the country to be put to the test in one of England’s greatest footballing cathedrals. Paul Lambert has worked wonders with the Canaries, having sealed back to back promotions, they are now currently sitting in a very respectable ninth position in the Barclays Premier League table. Life in their first season back in the top flight started off pretty averagely, after back to back draws with Wigan and Stoke, they went down to a 3-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge and then lost 0-1 at home to West Brom.

Since then however they have picked up a few impressive scalps, including an away win at Bolton, and a comprehensive victory over fellow new boys Swansea, meaning that they will walk under the This Is Anfield sign and onto the hallowed turf with a great sense of self-belief, especially after an excellent performance at Old Trafford where many will argue that they should have come away with at least a point, if not three.

Since the Spurs hammering, which is better left alone, Liverpool have been on a decent run of form, with victories against Wolves and Everton and a draw with Manchester United in a game Liverpool really should have won. So, a drab performance against Rangers aside, Liverpool should also be pretty high on confidence, and without Lucas as the holding midfielder, should deploy a fairly attacking 11.

Norwich are a side that can be accredited with playing a very attractive brand of football at times, and even away against the top sides, although they don’t stream forward in numbers, they still refrain from parking the bus.

For Liverpool I would expect us to line up in a similar fashion to the way we finishing the game against United, with a midfield trio of Henderson, Adam and Gerrard, although I would expect to see Liverpool’s giant North Eastern number 9 make the starting 11 over Dirk Kuyt. Andy Carroll hasn’t been at his best since joining the club, but due to the lack of physical size in the Norwich team, given the right service he could have a field day.

Here’s to a good game.