Liverpool v Blackburn
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish Kenny Dalglish managed Blackburn from 1991 to 1995
TEAM NEWS
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has returned to training after an ankle infection but this game may come too soon.
Jay Spearing returns from suspension and the Reds have no new injury concerns after the draw with Wigan.
Blackburn's defensive worries have grown with goalkeeper Paul Robinson's tearing a calf muscle although he is hoping to play through the pain.
Scott Dann, Ryan Nelsen, Martin Olsson and Gael Givet are already out.
MATCH PREVIEW
For everyone connected with Blackburn Rovers, I'm sure this fixture evokes memories of one of their greatest-ever days.
Rovers went to Anfield in May 1995 and - despite losing 2-1 - lifted the Premier League title just three years after being promoted to the top flight. It couldn't be further from their present woes.
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You sense that sooner or later, with the chances Liverpool have created and not converted this season, they will hit a team for four or five
Kenny Dalglish was the man who guided them to that title and he admits to being saddened by his former club's current predicament and the treatment of his fellow Scot Steve Kean in Blackburn's defeat to Bolton this week.
Ironically, it was one of Kean's seven Premier League victories in charge back in January that led to Dalglish returning to Anfield. Roy Hodgson was sacked three days after Liverpool were beaten 3-1 at Ewood Park, and if Blackburn lose again on Boxing Day how much longer will the bottom club leave it without making a change themselves?
Kean's record of just 32 points from a possible 114 since taking charge doesn't lie, and their final match of the calendar year is a trip to Old Trafford.
For Liverpool, it's a game they will expect nothing less than three points from, particularly having been frustratingly held at home by both Norwich and Swansea in the past couple of months, and having drawn a blank for the fifth time in the campaign at Wigan, where, incredibly, they missed their fourth penalty from five this season.
Liverpool will end the year in a far better mindset than the way they started it and you sense that sooner or later, with the chances they've created and not converted this season, they will hit a team for four or five. There's certainly no problem at the other end, where they've got the best defence in the entire league.
There appears to be very little light at the end of the Blackburn tunnel. The only team to be bottom at Christmas and still survive did stick with their manager, but for hopes of a repeat of Bryan Robson and West Brom's great escape, there'll need to be a Boxing Day shock at Anfield.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
* Liverpool have won their last four home matches against Blackburn.
* Rovers have won just one of their last eight meetings against Liverpool (W1, D2, L5). That was a 3-1 win last January.
* Blackburn won 1-0 on the last Boxing Day meeting between the teams - that was at Ewood Park in 2006.
Liverpool
* Liverpool have conceded just 13 goals this season, the lowest tally in the league. They have kept clean sheets in their last three matches.
* But the Reds have failed to score in five Premier League matches this season.
* Liverpool have lost just one of their last 12 in the league.
Blackburn
* Bottom-placed Blackburn have lost four of their last five Premier League games, including the last three. They have never lost four in a row under Steve Kean.
* In the history of the Premier League, only one team has been bottom at Christmas and avoided relegation - that was West Brom in 2004-2005.
* Blackburn haven't won away from home this season.
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