Roy Hodgson had an outstanding campaign in charge of Fulham last season as he lead the London club to the final of the Europa League, however they fell at the last hurdle.
Now Hodgson’s Liverpool (13/2 to win the Europa League) are in the knockout stages of the same competition and are looking to go that step further and lift the trophy at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on May 18.
The Reds finished top of Group K to qualify for the later stages and Hodgson has avoided the temptation of over-playing his key men in the competition.
Captain Steven Gerrard, who has now returned to action after suffering a hamstring injury over a month ago whilst playing for England, scored four goals in the group stages.
Star striker Fernando Torres has only featured twice in the Europa League and is bound to play a bigger role the further the Merseyside club go in the competition.
Considering their inconsistent form in the Premier League it’s difficult to know which Reds team will turn up for their next European clash – against Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic on February 24.
However, with Hodgson’s experience in the competition, Liverpool could repeat the feat of winning the second biggest prize in European football as they did in 2001.
Premier League big spenders Manchester City (4/1 to win the Europa League) are currently the favourites to lift the trophy in Dublin.
Roberto Mancini’s men sit in second place in the top flight and have transferred that form into the Europa League as they too finished top of their group.
The Blues look like they have managed to keep hold of their key player Carlos Tevez and like Torres for Liverpool, he should be more of a presence as City take on Greek side Aris Salonika.
City should progress to the latter stages of the competition if you consider the strength in depth of the star-studded squad at Eastlands.
A threat to their hopes of winning the Europa League could be if the Blues stay in the hunt for the Premier League title and Mancini is forced to rest players in the European games.
However it’s doubtful City fans would have too many problems with that scenario.
The British team with by far the hardest draw in the knockout stages are SPL title holders Rangers (5/4 to qualify for next round) as they face Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon.
They too will be looking to go a step further from 2008 when they lost in the Europa League final against Russian side Zenit St Petersburg in Manchester.
The Gers qualified for the knockout stages after they finished third in their tough Champions League group which included Manchester United and Valencia.
With Walter Smith#s team challenging at the top of the SPL table with Old Firm rivals Celtic, it might be too difficult for the Scottish side to battle on both fronts.
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