Swansea City – Liverpool Preview: Reds on the brink of best start to Premier League season

Brendan Rodgers heads back to Swansea City looking to guide Liverpool to their longest winning run at the start of a Premier League season.


The Anfield club are top of the table after securing victories in each of their opening three matches, but they have never won the first four games of a Premier League campaign.

Their 1-0 triumph over rivals Manchester United underlined their threat this term, but Rodgers knows that their promising early form will count for nothing if they fail to maintain the high standards they have set.

“The players have been outstanding,” Rodgers, who managed Swansea between 2010 and 2012, said. “We are all together and it’s a good start.

“It is important to maintain that and we have to be vigilant. We can be better.

“We have shown in stages the quality we can have with the passion, resilience and desire. We just need to keep getting results. We need to keep the feel-good factor going.”

However, Liverpool travel to Wales with a host of injuries, with Daniel Sturridge (thigh) – scorer of the winning goal against United – a doubt for the clash at the Liberty Stadium.

Joe Allen (hamstring) and Kolo Toure (groin) could also miss out, while Aly Cissokho and Glen Johnson (both ankle) and Sebastian Coates (knee) are all definitely out.

New additions Mamadou Sakho, Tiago Ilori and Victor Moses could feature the visitors, but they are likely to face a stern test against a Swansea side that will have revenge on their minds following Liverpool’s 5-0 win at Anfield last season.

Michael Laudrup’s charges have won just one league game so far this term, which came before the international break as they cruised to a 2-0 victory at West Brom.

Swansea travel to Arsenal for another difficult encounter following their clash with Liverpool but the Danish manager is eager to get more points on the board to kick-start their campaign.

“We have a very difficult start,” Laudrup said.

“That’s why West Brom was so important.

“We need to get some points just to stay in there right now, and then we have a run of fixtures against teams who I would say are in our league.”

Laudrup has only a handful of injury concerns, although defender Neil Taylor (thigh) will definitely miss out.

Jonjo Shelvey (thigh) is a doubt to face his former club, while winger Nathan Dyer (hamstring) faces a late fitness test.

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