Premier League strugglers
Portsmouth will be hoping to move off the bottom of the table when they
host Rafael Benitez's Liverpool in Saturday's early kick-off.
Pompey are three points behind second-bottom side West Ham and a
win for the south coast side coupled with a defeat for the Hammers
could see Avram Grant's men move clear of 20th place.
- Match centre
- Premier League fixtures
Pompey failed to take any points away from Stamford Bridge during
midweek despite pushing Chelsea all the way, but with two wins in their
last three home games, they will be confident of upsetting the visiting
Reds.
Striker Frederic Piquionne, who netted Portsmouth's goal at
Stamford Bridge in a 2-1 defeat, feels that his team's impressive
display against Chelsea can inspire the Hampshire side to victory
against the Merseysiders.
"If we play like that we believe we can get good results. That
performance has given us confidence for the weekend against Liverpool,"
he told the club website.
"We played well but I believe we can do better than that. We play
Liverpool on Saturday and there's no reason why we can't get something
against them."
Liverpool themselves have endured a difficult season so far, with their title aspirations having all but disappeared.
However, the Reds did return to winning ways on Wednesday, proving
too strong for Wigan after two league games without a victory.
Fernando Torres netted the Reds' second in that 2-1 win and the
Spanish superstar will no doubt be confident of finding the net again
at Fratton Park, having already bagged three goals in his last two
appearances against Portsmouth.
According to team-mate Javier Mascherano, Torres' return to fitness will be vital to Liverpool kick-starting their season.
The Argentinian hardman told the club website: "It is so important
for us that Fernando stays fit. We know that we can win games when he
is not playing but, equally, when he is on the pitch, you can see the
respect that other teams give him."
Last season this fixture produced the proverbial five-goal
thriller, with Liverpool going behind twice but eventually coming out
on top courtesy of that man Torres with a last-gasp winner.
However, Portsmouth will take comfort in the fact that Liverpool
have won only one of their last five Premier League fixtures away from
home.
Source: DSG