Feb 20, 2013 03:50 AM EST
Liverpool vs Zenit St Petersburg: Preview, Team News, Injuries, Predictions and Expected Lineups of Europa League Game

Liverpool have the proverbial mountain to climb when they host Zenit St. Petersburg in the second leg of their round of 32 Europa League tie.

The Reds were disappointingly beaten 2-0 by the Russian side in the first leg last week, and will need a much improved performance, akin to the one showed against Swansea in the English Premier League Sunday.

Brendan Rodgers was confident his side could overturn the two-goal deficit at home, and it will be now up to the Liverpool players to prove their manager right.

With Champions League qualification well out of reach, and having exited the rest of the cup competitions, Liverpool really only have the Europa League to salvage some silverware and pride for this season.

While Rodgers has indeed shown progress with his side as the season has worn on, inconsistency has been Liverpool's bane more often than not.

One man who has been staggeringly consistent though has been Luis Suarez, with the Uruguayan almost single-handedly keeping Liverpool in the top half of the Premier League table.

Suarez was again the man of the match in that win over Swansea, having a hand in almost all the goals scored.

"Zenit is our most important game of the season and we have a good chance even though we lost the first game 2-0," Liverpool defender Jose Enrique told the Liverpool Echo.

"The atmosphere will be really good and if we score early then our confidence will grow.

"It will be the biggest European game I've ever played in. We know we have to score at least two but we can do it.

"We have really good players and I think we can score a lot of goals. The problem this season has been conceding goals.

"It's so important to keep a clean sheet against Zenit. They spent a lot of money so they have good players but we have to stop them scoring. We need to concentrate throughout.

"I think we are playing well. Even in the defeats to West Brom and Zenit, it was the same. We had many chances but we didn't take them and our mistakes cost us two goals.

"The manager's style of play is working and at home we've been doing well. We just have to try to make sure those errors don't happen again."

The Anfield faithful will definitely play a big part helping their team to glory, but the most important aspect will be not to concede any goals. Because, if Zenit score even one solitary goal, Liverpool will need to bag at least four to progress, such is the value of an away goal, with Liverpool failing to find the back of the nest in Russia.

Liverpool are definitely capable of picking up a victory, and a Steven Gerrard and Suarez inspired Reds will be hoping it is one of those awe inspiring European nights.

Team and injury news: Liverpool will again be without January signings Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho, both of whom are cup-tied, while Fabio Borini is expected to be out for the season with a shoulder injury.

Expected lineups: Liverpool: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Enrique; Lucas, Henderson, Gerrard; Downing, Suarez, Sterling.

Zenit: Malafeev, Aniukov, Luis Neto, Lombaerts, Hubocan; Shirokov, Denisov, Witsel; Hulk, Kerzhakov, Danny.

Prediction: 3-0 to Liverpool

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