Anfield Road

Craig Bellamy made his Liverpool debut, first time round, in a Champions League qualifier at Anfield in 2006. It was a scoring debut, his 33^rd minute goal helping Liverpool to victory in that first leg and setting the club on the road to the final in Athens nine months later. That match ended Liverpool 2 Maccabi Haifa 1 with Bellamy being subbed after 65 minutes.

In his place from the bench came Peter Crouch, who’d already been at the club for 12 months, meaning the two would have to wait a little longer to play alongside each other competitively for Liverpool. That opportunity came up a few days later when the Reds met Chelsea at Cardiff for the Community Shield match, Crouch starting and Bellamy replacing Garcia after 67 minutes. Bellamy set Crouch up for the winner in another game that ended 2-1.

Neither player would start the Champions League final the following May, Crouch getting on for the last 20 minutes or so as Liverpool went down 2-1. That was to be Bellamy’s last call-up for a Liverpool squad, until now, the club selling the Welsh international at a profit having taken advantage of a “get out” clause in his Blackburn contract to buy him originally. Liverpool were about to sign Fernando Torres and needed the money towards that £18m initial fee.

Of course Bellamy would be delighted to make another scoring, winning, debut tomorrow but Liverpool fans will hope that one of Stoke’s debutantes has a similar start to his time there as he had when he moved to Anfield. It took Peter Crouch 19 games to score his first Liverpool goal, finally breaking his duck against Wigan on December 3^rd 2005. He got two in that game, the first one having been put down as an own goal by the Press Association but later overturned by the dubious goals panel.

It remains to be seen if Bellamy will get straight into the side for this match but it would be a surprise if Crouch didn’t start, having become Stoke’s record signing when he moved from Spurs for £10m on deadline day. Stoke fans will want to see him play, having stayed up until the early hours after he’d signed: “It was crazy really, it was like half one in the morning and there were still 800 to 1000 fans out there singing my name and that was really flattering to be honest,” said Crouch. “I’m very thankful for the welcome they gave me, and hopefully I can repay them out on the pitch now with performances and goals. I will give absolutely everything I have got in every game I play in, that is for sure.”

Crouch feels Stoke can give Liverpool a hard time, despite the improvements made over the summer by Dalglish: “There have been a lot of changes there, but they have settled in very well and they have started the season extremely well. The players all seem to have fitted in to the system Kenny wants to play there and they look very dangerous going forward. Suarez has been on fire, they have Andy Carroll there who’s very talented, Craig Bellamy’s just arrived and I know Stewart Downing from England so they have some very good options.”

But Crouch warned Liverpool: “They have strengthened, but so have we.” Crouch was one of three new arrivals on deadline day as Tony Pulis brought in Cameron Jerome and Wilson Palacios to join signings he’d made earlier in the summer, Jonathan Woodgate and Matthew Upson.

Stoke are by no means an easy side to beat, especially at their own place, and Crouch is well aware of this: “I mean, I look around our dressing room and we have some fantastic players in there as well. I know from being an opposing player that nobody enjoys coming here and playing against Stoke. It’s always an incredibly hard game to play in, so we have the belief that we can win the game.”

His boss Tony Pulis has a number of concerns of the fitness of his players with Marc Wilson and Rory Delap getting close to returning from hamstring problems. Kenwyne Jones has been away in the Caribbean for his two games for Trinidad and Tobago whilst Glen Whelan and goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen were on duty for Ireland and Denmark respectively. “We’ll take a good look at them all in training and make a decision after that,” said Pulis. “With all the matches coming up, we have to be careful with Marc and Rory because although they’re making good progress, we don’t want to rush them back too soon and then lose them for a longer period if they are not right.”

He said Crouch is desperate to get back playing again: “Peter is chomping at the bit to get in there and play but we will have to see if we can get him in the team. Wilson is maybe a little bit behind the other lads in terms of fitness so we will have to make a decision on him. It’s the same with Cameron really, he wants to get out there, but in terms of fitness he is maybe a little bit behind too as he hasn’t got a full pre-season behind him. We will have a look at them and make a decision from there.”

Stoke’s Jermaine Pennant was also in the Liverpool side for that Community Shield game in 2006 and having faded somewhat at Anfield he’s a popular figure amongst fans of his current club. He was set to get the number 7 shirt for this season but has reverted back to number 16 after it was pointed out that a lot of supporters had bought their shirts with his old number on. Stoke’s number 15 is another former Red, Salif Diao.

Liverpool will still be without captain Steven Gerrard but he’s getting closer to a return now. Bellamy is likely to be amongst the subs but Carroll is in with a good chance of a recall to the starting line-up alongside Suarez. Martin Kelly’s recent injury was a blow but Glen Johnson has returned to training and may start the game with Luis Enrique on the opposite side of defence. Sebastian Coates will almost certainly have to wait for his debut with Carragher and Agger expected to start.

Worries about Charlie Adam’s hip injury, sustained on international duty for Scotland, seem to be fading and he should start too, with Downing and Lucas also expected to be in the starting line-up. There aren’t many certainties about Liverpool’s starting line-up, but someone would need to step back to the bench to allow for Carroll’s inclusion and Kuyt will probably get the nod over Henderson to stay in the side.

Kick-off is at 3pm on Saturday and the game won’t be shown on TV in the UK. FoxSoccer.TV are showing the game live online but their coverage is only available to visitors with a US IP address. USA Proxy Server offer a VPN service which gives its users a US IP address that can be used in conjunction with sites normally restricted to US visitors. More details on access to good-quality streams of live Premier League football matches >>.