Brendan Rodgers is forced into two changes with Daniel Sturridge and Phillipe Coutinho both ineligible in the Europe, as the Reds aim to overcome a two-goal deficit at Anfield

Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson have both returned to the Liverpool starting line-up to face Zenit in the Europa League last-32 second leg, with January additions Daniel Sturridge and Phillipe Coutinho both cup-tied.

The midfield pair are just two changes from the side which beat Swansea 5-0 in the Premier League at the weekend, with youngsters Suso, Oussama Assaidi and Raheem Sterling on the bench.

Luciano Spalleti makes just one change from the side which gave Zenit a 2-0 advantage in Russia, Segei Semak is brought in to add numbers in midfield with Aleksandr Kerzhakov sacrificed from attack.

Liverpool starting XI: Reina; Johnson, Enrique, Agger, Carragher; Lucas, Allen, Gerrard; Henderson, Downing, Suarez.
Subs: Gulacsi, Coates, Wisdom, Shelvey, Assaidi, Suso, Sterling.

Zenit starting XI: Malafeev; Anyukov, Lombaerts, Neto, Hubocan; Shirokov, Semak, Denisov, Witsel Danny; Hulk.
Subs: Zhevnov, Alves, Criscito, Rodic, Fayzulin, Bukharov, Kerzhakov.

The Brazilian is eager to get one over on his compatriot in Thursday evening’s Europa League last-32 meeting and is anticipating a “special European night at Anfield”

Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva says he hopes he will be happier than his compatriot Hulk after Thursday evening’s Europa League clash with Zenit.

The Reds suffered a 2-0 defeat in Russia in the first leg of the last-32 tie, with second-half goals from Hulk and Sergei Semak punishing their lacklustre display.

Lucas highlighted the former Porto forward as a key man for the visitors and hopes the Reds can keep him quiet.

“We are close, especially as we had the chance to play a few times in the national team together,” the 26-year-old told reporters.

“Hulk scored a good goal against us and he’s an important player for Zenit. After the game we’ll have a friendly chat and hopefully I’ll be happier than him.”

The Premier League outfit have their work cut out if they are to progress to the next stage but, with the return leg at Anfield, Lucas is confident his team-mates can pull off a memorable comeback.

He added: “We know we need to score goals but we also have to play with a defensive mentality because to concede a goal will make it even harder for us.

“We need to try to find the right balance. Hopefully it will be another good night to remember. We really believe that we can get through to the next stage.

“The Europa League is a competition that we always wanted to do well in. We know about the special European nights at Anfield that the crowd give us. They will definitely be our 12th player.”

One of the players that Brendan Rodgers will be relying on is Steven Gerrard, a player Lucas insists can still “change games”.

“I’ve been playing with Stevie for six years already and every week we can see he still has the hunger to win games and be the special player that he has always been for the club,” he added.

“He’s playing in a different position, a deeper role than he was used to, but he’s still able to change games.

“I’m just very happy that we have him on the team. His leadership always makes our lives easier.”

With a two-goal deficit to chase, the Reds will need to be on top of their game to have any chance of progression, and Al Hain-Cole thinks their leaky defence may cost them

After crashing to a 2-0 defeat in Russia last week, Liverpool have left themselves with an almighty task on their hands when Zenit St Petersburg come to town for the return leg on Thursday.

A 5-0 win over Swansea on Sunday will have given the Reds a timely confidence boost, and they will need to put in a similarly convincing performance in order to overcome their classy opponents.

Anfield on a European night can be an intimidating place to visit, and the hosts are 4/6 (1.67) favourites with Coral to give the crowd something to cheer about with victory tonight.

Just one win and six defeats in nine European away games does not bode well for the visitors, although that victory did come against AC Milan at the San Siro in December, so they may fancy their chances of coming out on top, at odds of 4/1 (5.00).

The last team to hold Brendan Rodgers’ men to a draw at home was Young Boys in the group stages of this competition in November, and you can get odds of 11/4 (3.75) on a second successive Europa League stalemate here.

With 17 goals in their last five home games, the hosts will be confident of making in-roads into the two-goal deficit they currently find themselves in.

However, the Russians demonstrated in the first leg just how dangerous they are in attack themselves, and have more than enough quality to kill the tie off with an away goal or two.

Hulk and Co. will be licking their lips at the prospect of facing a defence that has kept just one clean sheet in their last six games, and odds of 8/11 (1.73) look very generous on both teams to score in this one.

Despite all of the money spent on high profile attacking players, many of Zenit’s goals have come via the boot of the understated Roman Shirokov.

The central midfielder has demonstrated his knack of appearing in the right place at the right time on many occasions, and was even his side’s top-scorer in last season’s Champions League.

Liverpool’s midfield have struggled to track runners from deep this season, as demonstrated by Sergei Semak’s goal in the first leg, and Shirokov looks like great value at 6/1 (7.00) to expose this weakness by getting on the score-sheet this evening.

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Al Hain-Cole is an experienced tipster and avid follower of European football. He specialises in accumulators and if you would like to read more from Al you can follow him on Twitter here.