Liverpool

The 22-year-old has the perfect opportunity to kick-start his career at the Merseyside club and who better to do it against than his former employers.

Carroll (4/1 first goalscorer) has struggled to find the back of the net since his £35m move from St James’ Park almost 11 months ago, with only two goals in the top flight this season.

The England international has been giving the backing of Dalglish, after he saw yet more opportunities go wide of the mark or saved during the 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers on Boxing Day.

With the Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez set to miss Friday’s clash with the Magpies due to a suspension for his gesture to the crowd during another Liverpool draw against Fulham, Carroll is set to take a leading role against his former club at Anfield.

Reds skipper Steve Gerrard also featured against Rovers on Monday and is likely to play some part against the Magpies, as Dalglish looks to ease the key midfielder back into regular football.

As for Newcastle, after a stuttering couple of weeks they got back to winning ways with a 2-0 victory over Premier League strugglers Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium on Boxing Day.

Once again it was that man Demba Ba (8/1 first goalscorer) who got himself on the score-sheet, as the Senegalese striker continues his superb season for Newcastle following his move from West Ham in the summer.

The 26-year-old could be the signing of the season, having joined the Magpies on a free deal, he has put away most of the chances presented to him and Liverpool will have to be wary of the goal-machine.

Another man who impressed during the victory over the Trotters was the Frenchman Hatem Ben Arfa (10/3 – Anytime Scorer), who found himself on the score-sheet with a wonderful finish.

The 24-year-old made a slow start to life at St James’ Park having suffered a broken tibia and fibula in one of his first games for the club, after being on the wrong end of a tackle from Manchester City’s Nigel De Jong.

However, manager Alan Pardew will be delighted to see the player coming back to full fitness and he will be another the threat the Reds will have to be alert to.

Liverpool and Newcastle sit in sixth and seventh place in the Premier League table respectively and there certainly is not too much between these two teams.

The Reds have tended to raise their game for the bigger fixtures in the top flight this season and struggled against the supposed lesser teams.

This is certainly a big game for both clubs as they hope to contend for European football next season.

Liverpool are likely to raise their game but this contest pits together two attacking football sides so expect goals but a stalemate at the final whistle.

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Roy Hodgson’s appointment as manager promised much for the Reds fans but he was unable to make it work during his brief tenure and paid the price with his job.

Returning hero Kenny Dalglish’s reign hardly began in spectacular fashion either as a 1-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester United and a loss to Blackpool next time out had the home faithful thinking ‘here we go again’ (Man Utd 4/1 favourites to win FA Cup).

But a Merseyside derby draw with Everton and 3-0 away win at Wolves have given the fans hope that Dalglish might just be able to work his magic once again and at least gain some respectability from the season.

Wednesday’s clash with Mark Hughes’ men will be far from straight forward, however, as the Cottagers are currently on a decent run and have taken 10 points from a possible 15, and they will fancy their chances of leaving the north west with something to show for their efforts (Fulham 5/1 to win, Liverpool 4/7).

Despite the revival, Fulham are far from safe with the bottom seven separated by just five points, although victory over Liverpool would move the west Londoners above their illustrious opponents.

Dalglish will, as ever, rely heavily on the striking talents of Fernando Torres, who seems to be ploughing a lone furrow up front at the moment until the possible arrival of Ajax’s Uruguay international striker Luis Suarez.

The Spaniard looks to be getting back to somewhere near his best but needs help up front although Raul Meireles has started to blossom into a real force in midfield and he has scored two goals in the past two games.

There is no doubt that Dalglish has revived the confidence and spirit at Anfield but that will only affect results for so long and it is improved performances and points that the legendary Scot is after, with his side still eight points adrift of sixth-place Sunderland and a possible return to the Europa League next term (Liverpool 13/2 to win Europa League).

Fulham made the final of that competition last season under Hodgson but have no chance of playing European football next season.

The transition from Hodgson to Hughes took some time to bear fruit but, despite the current upturn, the Cottagers are still just four points from the drop zone.

Clint Dempsey bagged a brace at the weekend and much will depend on whether he can gel with Andy Johnson in attack, with the latter still to find his scoring boots after such a long time out through injury over the past 18 months.

Pundits always believed that Hughes had the talent at his disposal to move the club away from danger and the return of key personnel has definitely had an influence on performances and results.

The outcome of the match will depend largely on which Liverpool side turns up but, with Dalglish looking for his first win back at his spiritual home and the crowd behind them, the hosts are tipped to win this one by a couple of goals – but they will have to work hard for it.

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Liverpool

Reds boss Roy Hodgson revealed over the weekend that Torres is unsettled at Liverpool and has a “beef” with the club.

He intimated, after speaking to the former Atletico Madrid ace about his future, that he could do no more to persuade the striker to stay on Merseyside.

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has since said he would be interested in signing Torres – if the price was right – while Chelsea and Barcelona have also been linked with big-money swoops.

Torres has so far stayed silent on his future but is still on holiday after his exploits with Spain at the World Cup and is not due back on Merseyside for another week.

Hodgson had hoped the fact skipper Steven Gerrard has committed his future to the club, coupled with the capture of Joe Cole on a free transfer, would help persuade Torres to stay but it appears the 26-year-old is yet to be convinced Anfield remains the place to be.

Dalglish, though, is confident Torres will eventually decide to stay with the Reds.

“When Torres sees that (Gerrard staying and Cole’s signing) and talks with Roy I’m sure he’ll give us good news,” Dalglish told BBC Radio 5 live.

“I hope Torres stays. Only Fernando knows what he is going to do. Unfortunately for him he is injured but he is a fantastic player and is very happy around the club and the city.”

He added: “The fact that Stevie is staying will be a great help and players like Joe Cole, Milan Jovanovic, Jonjo Shelvey and Danny Wilson mean there is buying for present and the future.”

Torres is recovering from a groin injury will not feature in Liverpool’s first competitive match of the season, the Europa League qualifier against Rabotnicki on Thursday (Rabotnicki 12/1 to win, Liverpool 1/5- first leg 90 minutes) but may be fit, should he decide to stay, for the opening Premier League game of the season against Arsenal on August 15 (Liverpool 5/4, Arsenal 7/4 – 90 minutes).

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Liverpool

Hodgson was unveiled as the new manager on Thursday after Rafa Benitez was given a £6m compensation deal to leave the club.

The Spaniard has now moved to Italian giants Inter Milan and now Hodgson has stepped in to the role as he looks to restore Liverpool to their top four status in the Premier League.

Despite applying for the job himself, Dalglish supported the new signing, stating that he was more than happy with the appointment.

He said: “I look very favourably on the appointment.

“I have known Roy a long time and have a great respect for him.

“We’ve not had detailed conversations yet but my interests are in Liverpool,” he added.

Dalglish failed to secure the position as the new manager of Liverpool as Martin Broughton decided it was not in the best interest for the club despite the Scot leading the Merseyside club to their last league title.

Hodgson believes that he and Dalglish will be able to work together at the club despite the former Liverpool boss being looked over for the job.

He said: “I don’t feel at all awkward about the situation.

“Kenny was entitled to suggest to the board that he wanted to be considered. The board made it clear to me that they didn’t want that to happen, as the chairman (Martin Broughton) has outlined.

“As far as I’m concerned, it shouldn’t affect my relationship with Kenny in any way,” he added.

Hodgson’s first task is to try and keep hold of Liverpool’s top players before the start of the Premier League season.

The club won’t be playing Champions League football this campaign after finishing in seventh place in the top flight last season.

There are fears that the likes of Fernando Torres, Javier Mascherano and captain Steven Gerrard could be on their way out of Anfield and Hodgson will be trying his best to secure the services of these players.

Liverpool will take on Arsenal in the pick of the opening day matches at Anfield (Liverpool 5/4, draw 9/4, Arsenal 7/4) before they take on Manchester City at Eastlands.

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Kenny Dalglish

Liverpool are on the look out for a new boss after parting company with Benitez and the Spaniard, who has quickly taken charge at Inter Milan, says that Dalglish is the man the Reds board should turn to.

Dalglish is a legend at Anfield and would no doubt be a very popular choice with the fans but it remains to be seen whether he could match the success he had during his previous spell in charge.

The Scot won three league titles and two FA Cups from 1985 to 1991, which included the double in his first year, beating Merseyside rivals Everton in the process.

Dalglish went on to manage Blackburn where he won another league title, Newcastle and Celtic but he has not been at the helm since leaving Parkhead back in 2000 and that is a long time to have been out of the game.

Management has moved on a lot over the last 10 years and there has to be a huge question mark over whether Dalglish is the man as many believe he may have lost touch with the game.

However Benitez is not concerned and believes Dalglish is definitely the man to get the fans back on board and bring the glory days back to the club.

“I think Liverpool should look at Kenny Dalglish,” the Spaniard revealed. “He is the man for the job. The owners should listen to the fans because they are unhappy.

“No one knows the club better than Dalglish and he would be perfect there. He wants the job and in my opinion he should get it.”

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson remains evens favourite to take charge but the Cottagers would want to be compensated heavily and the easy route for the Reds would be to hand Dalglish the job.

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