Next Monday, 29th of December 2014, an incredibly inconsistent Liverpool will entertain an usually complicated Swansea team at the emblematic Anfield Road for round 19 of the English Premier League, on a match that the home side needs to win in order increase their fragile motivation levels and to close to point gap separating them from their closest contenders.

Liverpool have not been having a very easy season so far and they are certainly still looking for that team spirit and synchronized game style that even managed to impress the most sceptic pundits last term. On Boxing Day, the Reds clinched a vital win at Turf Moor against Burnley but grabbing those three points was far from easy. Burnley enjoyed from several opportunities to score and if Danny Ings’ scorcher hadn’t hit the post still early in the first-half, the match’s outcome could have been different. Liverpool have also shown some interesting moments during the entire match, with Raheem Sterling constantly causing mayhem in the opposition’s defence line. It was, in fact, the young English international who sealed Liverpool’s win when he escaped the defence line and the goalkeeper after a brilliant assist by Coutinho.

In order to increase the team’s motivation levels, Liverpool need to win their Monday’s home match against Swansea but such task will definitely not easy, given the quality of their opponents. For that particular clash, Brendan Rodgers will most certainly still not be able to count on the contribution of Sturridge, Johnson, Suso and Flanagan, since all remain sidelined due to injury.

As for Swansea, the Welsh have been having what one may consider as a good overall performance so far this season, as they currently occupy the 8th place of the table three points behind West Ham, which are on the last place that grant European football last season.

After defeating Hull last weekend, the Swans overcame Aston Villa on Boxing Day and are currently on a two match row without defeats that they will certainly look to extend during their visit to Anfield Road on Monday. For that particular match, Garry Monk is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the contribution of Leon Britton, who is still recovering from injury.

The last clashes between these sides at Anfield were pretty close but Liverpool won all of them. Therefore, the Reds enjoy from a slight favouritism for the upcoming game, but they will certainly need to dig deep in order to grant the three points.

Liverpool

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - WDWLD

Swansea

Stats: W-3 L-2 D-0

Recent Form - WWLLW

Possible Line-ups

Liverpool (3-4-3) – Mignolet - Sahko - Skrtel - Lovren - Leiva - Henderson - Markovic - Gerrard - Sterling - Coutinho - Lallana

Swansea (4-2-3-1) – Fabianski - Rangel - Fernandez - Williams - Taylor - Shelvey - Ki - Routledge - Sigurdson - Dyer - Bony

Prediction

Liverpool 2 Swansea 1