TEAM NEWS
Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge is unlikely to play again this season as he may require surgery on his hip.
Mario Balotelli is out with a foot problem and Jon Flanagan has been ruled out for up to nine months, but midfielder Lucas returns from injury.
QPR will make a late decision on Bobby Zamora, who has been struggling with a long-standing hip problem.
Midfielder Leroy Fer is fit to start after he returned from a knee injury as a substitute last weekend.
MATCH PREVIEW
The great Liverpool dynasties in the 1970s and 80s and Manchester United in the 90s and noughties had one great thing in common; their players knew exactly what it meant to play for those great clubs.
These are different days. Footballers no longer fully appreciate the bond between club and community because they live outside that community, cocooned in their bubble of bling. But the fans still expect their heroes to sweat until they drop. That hasn't happened at either Liverpool or QPR.
Liverpool are limping to the finish line as a result. Expectancy levels were too high in the first place. The transfer of Luis Suarez and injury to Daniel Sturridge proved too damaging.
Bad signings have been made. Mario Balotelli has been a disaster, but there is a deeper malaise.
The team just doesn't seem ruthless enough to stretch that extra inch for glory. Two semi-finals. Not bad. But silverware will be needed next season. For that they need born winners and sadly their most determined of them all, the last of a dying breed, Steven Gerrard, leaves this month.
Lawro's prediction |
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"Liverpool were poor in their defeat at Hull on Tuesday night. Because there are not many leaders in their team, it is down to Reds boss Brendan Rodgers to tell them when they are not good enough."
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QPR fans won't agree of course, but even the diehards must know that escape now is but a dream. They could need three more wins from their final four games. Three of those matches are away. They've triumphed on their travels just twice this season and only once, ever, at Anfield - 24 years ago.
Their Premier League stay has been a poorly written soap opera. Bad planning. Poor signings. Wretched performances by too many mercenaries who haven't even heard of Stan Bowles or Gerry Francis, let alone understood their meaning to QPR fans.
Chris Ramsey deserves better. I hope he gets a chance to make something of the wreckage.
Gerrard deserves better than a lame finish. I hope he rages against the dimming of the Anfield spotlight and goes out in a blaze.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
- Liverpool are unbeaten in their six Premier League meetings with QPR at Anfield, winning five and drawing the other.
- QPR's only victory away to Liverpool was by 3-1 in March 1991.
- Liverpool have won 19 and lost just one of their 22 home league games against Rangers.
Liverpool
- Liverpool have taken just four points out of a possible 15 in the Premier League. Only Burnley and Newcastle have fared worse in their last five matches.
- The Reds haven't scored in their last two league matches - they haven't failed to score in three in a row since March 2005.
- Brendan Rodgers' side have only lost one of their previous 11 league games at Anfield (W7, D3).
- Liverpool have lost all seven of the Premier League games in which they trailed at half-time this season.
QPR
- QPR have won just two of their last 17 Premier League matches (D4, L11).
- However, they are unbeaten in their last two away games in the league, with one win and one draw.
- They scored seven goals in those two away matches and have found the net at least once in their last nine league games on the road.
- Rangers have the worst defensive record in the league, conceding 59 goals in 34 games.
- They kept their first clean sheet in nine matches against West Ham last weekend.
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