Gerrard orders Liverpool to demolish Palace

Crystal Palace vs Liverpool

Venue: Selhurst Park

Kick off: 5:30pm

Steven Gerrard’s dreams are in the hands of his Liverpool teammates on Saturdayevening (today) as they visit Crystal Palace in the last 16 of the FA Cup.

The Reds skipper is expected to miss the trip to Selhurst Park after suffering a muscle strain in the 3-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday.

A competition, which he has already won twice during his 16-year Anfield career remains Gerrard’s most realistic chance of a final trophy before his departure for Los Angeles Galaxy at the end of the season.

Although the Merseysiders are still in the Europa League, there is a sense that an FA Cup triumph would be the ideal way for Gerrard to say his goodbyes – with this year’s Wembley final landing on his 35th birthday.

The midfielder’s injury was perhaps the only downside from Liverpool’s morale-boosting midweek win over Spurs, which took them to within one point of their opponents and only three adrift of the top-four places.

The icing on the cake was that it was Mario Balotelli, heavily criticised for his minimal contribution since joining for £16 million last summer, who scored the winner with his first Premier League goal for the club.

With Brendan Rodgers perhaps cautious over the fitness of Raheem Sterling and the recently-returned Daniel Sturridge, the Italian may be rewarded with a first start sinceNovember 8 as the leader of the line.

Fraizer Campbell bagged the equaliser to add to Alan Pardew’s selection dilemmas in attack, where Marouane Chamakh, Yaya Sanogo and Dwight Gayle have also been amongst the goals in recent matches.

Sanogo picked up a knock against the Magpies and so Campbell may be promoted from the bench along with Yannick Bolasie, who produced a lively cameo upon his return from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Pardew must decide whether to stick with his policy of playing Wayne Hennessey in the cup or opt for first-choice keeper, Julian Speroni, who starred as the Eagles beat Liverpool 3-1 at home in November.

Palace Possible starting lineup: Hennessey; Ward, Hangeland, Delaney, Kelly; Puncheon, McArthur, Ledley; Bolasie; Chamakh, Campbell

Liverpool Possible starting lineup: Mignolet; Lovren, Skrtel, Sakho; Markovic, Can, Henderson, Moreno; Coutinho, Lallana, Balotelli.