Date: Saturday, 25 January 2014; Venue: Dean Court, Bournemouth; Kickoff: 12:45 GMT Championship club AFC Bournemouth have never beaten Liverpool in four previous attempts all in the FA Cup. Will their fifth ever meeting produce a giant-killing in the fourth round at Dean Court? Reds boss Brendan Rodgers will hope to avoid such a banana skin on the eve of his 41st birthday. Cherries counterpart Eddie Howe is five years his junior, but both managers saw their own playing careers blighted by injury. Now they will be their coaching wits against one another. Bournemouth boast a decent recent home record of just one defeat in the last two months. Nine goals have gone in during their four fixtures on their own patch since Christmas. Liverpool meanwhile have enjoyed mixed results on the road. Defeats at Manchester City and Chelsea were sandwiched between big scoring wins away at Spurs and Stoke. Prior to the 5-0 victory at White Hart Lane that cost Andre Villas-Boas his job, the Reds went down at Hull. Liverpool are 32 places higher up the Football League pyramid than Howe's Cherries. Rodgers will be wary of this kind of opposition, however, because of the shock defeat last season at Oldham.
Team News
Hosts Bournemouth could field the same XI that began their last outing a 1-1 draw with Watford. Their Premier League opponents have something of a defensive crisis. England right back Glen Johnson became the latest Reds casualty at the back as wear and tear on his body has taken its toll. He joins Daniel Agger (calf), Jose Enrique (knee) and Mamadou Sakho (hamstring) on the sidelines. London-born Tiago Ilori has left Anfield on loan, so Rodgers only has the luxury of choosing between Martin Kelly and Jon Flanagan to be in the back four. Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva is another absentee with a knee injury. Source: BBC
Likely Line-Ups
Bournemouth: 42 Lee Camp, 2 Simon Francis, 5 Tommy Elphick, 22 Elliott Ward, 11 Charlie Daniels, 32 Eunan O'Kane, 8 Harry Arter, 30 Matt Ritchie, 4 Andrew Surman, 7 Marc Pugh, 9 Lewis Grabban 4-2-3-1 Liverpool: 1 Brad Jones, 34 Martin Kelly/38 Jon Flanagan, 4 Kolo Toure, 37 Martin Skrtel, 20 Aly Cissokho, 8 Steven Gerrard, 24 Joe Allen, 12 Victor Moses, 14 Jordan Henderson, 9 Iago Aspas, 15 Daniel Sturridge 4-2-3-1
Jamie Clark is a qualified Web Journalist after undergoing professional training at the University of Sheffield. A prolific and accredited sports writer, he also enjoys classic comedy, historic fiction, 80s music and heritage.
