Barclays Premier League
Liverpool v West Ham United
Anfield
Monday 1 December
8pm
Referee: Peter Walton
WHUTV - Full audio commentary
Introduction
* West Ham United travel to Liverpool for their second consecutive away game in the Barclays Premier League. The team will be on a high following the 1-0 win at Sunderland last time out.
* Manager Gianfranco Zola has another strong squad to choose from after more senior players returned to training as he pits his wits against Rafael Benitez.
* Zola's side sit 15th in the table after Saturday's fixtures, with five wins and two draws and a goal difference of minus five from their opening 14 fixtures. The home side are joint top, but sit below Chelsea on goal difference having won ten and drawn three of their opening 14 games.
* Last weekend's win pushed West Ham United four places up the table and victory at Anfield could see them climb to seventh, depending on results from games played earlier in the weekend. Liverpool could move three points clear of Chelsea, who play Arsenal on Sunday.
* The visitors will be looking to record their first win on Merseyside since 14 September 1963. The London side have lost on their last seven visits there since goals from Frank Lampard and Marc Keller helped secure a 2-2 draw in February 1999.
* Home form is a different story, though. Last season Mark Noble scored a last-gasp penalty to give West Ham United a memorable 1-0 win at the Boleyn Ground on 30 January.
* After ending a run of 25 games without a clean sheet in the 0-0 draw with Portsmouth, Robert Green and the West Ham United defence have earned two in a row, following the shut-out against Sunderland.
* West Ham United midfielder Scott Parker said: "We can go there and try to take the game to them, which I'm sure we're going to, play some nice stuff and you never know. Fulham went there last Saturday and got a result and we go there full of confidence with two clean sheets. We'll see if we can keep the run going."
* Speaking to the club's official website about the injury to Fernando Torres, Liverpool manager Benitez said: "We have [Robbie] Keane and when we bought him it was with the idea that he can score goals. We also have Dirk Kuyt, David Ngog and Ryan Babel. Hopefully they can score enough goals and we can talk about Fernando in three weeks' time. We have shown enough quality and character without him and hopefully we can do it again."
* West Ham United are next in top flight action in another Monday fixture, at home to Tottenham Hotspur on 8 December. Liverpool have a Saturday game away at Blackburn Rovers on 5 December.
Last time out
Sunday 23 November 2008 - Sunderland 0-1 West Ham United
West Ham United: Green, Neill, Collins, Upson, Ilunga, Faubert (Boa Morte 76), Parker, Bowyer (Mullins 61), Behrami, Bellamy (Di Michele 87), Cole
Subs not used: Lastuvka, Davenport, Collison, Sears
Goal: Behrami 20
Wednesday 26 November - Liverpool 1-0 Marseille
Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio (Dossena 46), Mascherano, Alonso, Kuyt (Leiva Lucas 85), Gerrard, Riera (Benayoun 63), Torres
Subs not used: Cavalieri, Keane, Babel, Kelly
Goal: Gerrard 23
Team news
* Parker sat out training on Thursday and Friday with a virus, but trained over the weekend and has travelled to the north-west along with fit-again Mark Noble.
* Kieron Dyer continues to impress his manager in training and is edging ever closer to a return, possibly in a specially arranged game this coming week. Jonathan Spector is also in training following a hip injury respectively.
* The return of those players mean Danny Gabbidon and Dean Ashton are the only long-term absentees.
* It has been a busy week as five more West Ham United players went out on loan, bringing the total number to eight. James Tomkins went to Derby County, Kyel Reid was loaned to Blackpool, Southend United borrowed Junior Stanislas, Jordan Spence moved to Leyton Orient and Jimmy Walker will spend five weeks at Colchester United. The quintet joined Bondz 'Gala, Josh Payne and Nigel Quashie, who are already gaining experience away from the Boleyn Ground.
* Tomkins and Reid had performed particularly well for the reserves in the 2-0 win over Portsmouth on Tuesday. David Di Michele, Freddie Sears, Luis Boa Morte, Walter Lopez and Calum Davenport all played a key role in the game as well to further demonstrate the options available to Zola
* Liverpool will be without Torres, who suffered a hamstring injury after their win over Marseille. Full-back Andrea Dossena is the favourite to replace Fabio Aurelio, who is out for a few weeks with a calf problem.
Background
* The teams last met on 5 March 2008 at Anfield, when a Fernando Torres hat-trick helped Liverpool to a 4-0 win.
* The lineups were:
Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Skrtel, Carragher, Riise, Gerrard, Mascherano, Alonso, Babel (Pennant 76), Kuyt (Benayoun 63), Torres (Crouch 82)
Subs not used: Itandje, Hyypia
Goals: Torres 8, 61, 81, Gerrard 83
West Ham United: Green, Neill, Ferdinand, Upson (Spector 63), McCartney, Solano (Ashton 69), Noble, Mullins, Ljungberg, Boa Morte, Cole (Zamora 69)
Subs not used: Wright, Pantsil
* West Ham United's last win at Anfield, on 14 September 1963, came courtesy of goals from Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst. Jim Standen also saved a penalty from Ronnie Moran in the match.
* If selected, Craig Bellamy will be making his 200th career Premier League appearance against one of his former clubs. The Welshman made 42 appearances for the Reds, scoring nine goals.
* Liverpool, meanwhile, could boast two former West Ham United players. Yossi Benayoun made 72 appearances for the club, while Javier Mascherano played seven times in a loan spell in east London.
* Robert Green is the only West Ham United player to have featured in every minute of every Premier League game this season, while Matthew Upson has also started every league match.
Head to head (last six meetings, league unless stated)
5 March 2008 - Liverpool 4-0 West Ham United
30 January 2008 - West Ham United 1-0 Liverpool
30 January 2007 - West Ham United 1-2 Liverpool
26 August 2006 - Liverpool 2-1 West Ham United
13 May 2005 - West Ham United 3-3 Liverpool aet (FA Cup final)
26 April 2006 - West Ham United 1-2 Liverpool
Overall record v Liverpool (all competitions): W 23, D 33, L 60
General information
For ticket information, click here For details on getting to Anfield, click here
Weather: The forecast is for a cold but bright day. The temperature is not expected to get above 5C.