FORTY-ONE down, but with at least a further 18 matches to go, Liverpool have played more games in all competitions this season than Tottenham Hotspur can face in the entire campaign, but while Steven Gerrard and some of his team-mates are beginning to feel the strain, Jerzy Dudek is likely to have a spring in his step as he runs out at The Valley this evening to face Charlton Athletic in their Barclays Premiership match, his first full appearance since his heroics in the Champions League final in Istanbul last May.
Dudek has spent most of the past five weeks in dispute with Rafael Benítez over the club’s refusal to sell him during the January transfer window, but the suspension of José Manuel Reina, after a red card for his tangle with Arjen Robben during the 2-0 defeat by Chelsea on Sunday, has opened the door for the Poland goalkeeper, who will hope that his return to the starting line-up will reawaken something of the spirit of Istanbul among his jaded team-mates.
Reina is likely to reclaim his place when, after missing matches against Charlton, Wigan Athletic and Arsenal over the next six days, he returns from suspension for the FA Cup fifth-round tie at home to Manchester United on February 18. Liverpool must also cope tonight without Gerrard, their captain and leading scorer, who suffered a knee injury at Stamford Bridge on Sunday and is rated doubtful, too, for the match away to Wigan on Saturday.
CHARLTON ATHLETIC (possible; 4-4-2):
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T Myhre — L Young, J Fortune, H Hreidarsson, C Powell — D Ambrose, A Smertin, B Hughes, J Thomas — M Bent, D Bent.
LIVERPOOL (possible; 4-4-1-1): J Dudek — S Finnan, J Carragher, D Agger, J A Riise — M Sissoko, D Hamann, X Alonso, H Kewell — L García — P Crouch.
Referee: A Marriner.