English Football Wednesday: Fulham Face Liverpool While West Ham And Birmingham Battle For Wembley

So, Christmas time at Anfield for Liverpool fans as they’re gifted a goal by Fulham, and the home side are looking for more. The visitors aren’t looking at their most confident after their comedy of errors, but they did get a few chances in the first half. At 1-0, the game definitely is not over just yet, although if Liverpool get another it probably will be.

The ball was rolling slowly and the strike should have found the back of the net, but instead the Belgian international snatched at it and his weak shot ended up rolling straight to Reina. If Dembele had managed to put that either side of him, Liverpool would be facing a 1-0 deficit. It’s a bit of a wakeup call for Liverpool’s defence - Kelly’s play in giving the initial ball away less than 30 yards from his goal can be best described as lackadaisical - and the close call will be a bit of a confidence-booster for Fulham.

The goal-that-wasn’t appears to have galvanised the home side and they’re now attacking with a little more confidence.

Speaking of stodgy, Mark Hughes’ Fulham are not on an inspiring run of form and currently lie just 15th in the league, a season after reaching the Europa League final under the guidance of one Roy Hodgson. The did manage to beat Stoke over the weekend, dispatching the Potters 2-0, and they’ve got a good record at Anfield over the past few seasons. Is there an upset on the cards?

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Reina; Kelly, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson; Meireles, Poulsen; Kuyt, Gerrard, Maxi; Torres.

From a corner to the leg of goal, a cross came to the edge of the six, in the middle of the box. Martín Fulöp took a poor line to the ball, allowing Koscielny to get between `keeper and cross. With nobody to defend goal, Arsenal’s center half had an easy redirection into goal, giving Arsène Wegner’s side the lead.

With a tick under 30 minutes to play, there is time for Wigan, who have had their chances, but they have some work to do and sitting in 18th place, cannot be full of confidence. Meanwhile, Villa looks to be in line for three points and a climb from 16th to 13th in the table.

Rafael, as mentioned a little earlier, had been having a very good game save for one contentious incident early in the second half after he flattened Luke Varney in the United area. Nothing was called, and we should expect some significant chat after the match about that rather bizarre penalty decision. Nonetheless, I’m sure everyone will wish Rafael a speedy recovery - he certainly doesn’t look in a very good way right now. Twin bother Fabio, an unused substitute, has followed the stretcher off the pitch to the dressing room.

The goal came as Cesc Fàbregas swung the ball wide left from the center circle, a long diagonal ball for Bendtner left the big Dne three touches away from the penalty area. The third of those touches saw the Ipswich defense caught on the wrong foot, Bendtner touching the ball back onto his right for a shot from 16 yards out. Moving through the outside of the ball, Bendtner curled the ball around Martón Fulöp, being the Ipswich `keeper to his far post for the match’s first goal.

Arsenal came into this match down 1-0 after last week’s away leg. Through the match’s first hour Ipswich had played conservatively, but just past the hour mark, Arsenal has opened up the match, equalizing the tie at one.

Just minutes later and the game is level. This time, Kingson could not manage to make the save when Hernandez was set free, and the Mexican striker finished calmly into the left-hand corner after Gigg’s clever pass. Huge sighs of relief from United fans across the world accompanied a rather pained reaction from the home crowd - and now the momentum is all with the visiting team. The game’s there to be won, and there’s fifteen minutes left to do it. Can Manchester United cap an incredible comeback with another goal?

Sagan was noticeably groggy when getting treatment, down for minutes on the pitch before momentarily attempting to continue. Within second Emmanuel Eboué was in the match, the French international unable to continue after taking his own `keeper’s foreheads to his head.

Szczesny was temporarily hurt, too, though quickly got up and has continued with the match. Ipswich currently holds a 1-0 lead on aggregate, though today’s match remains scoreless, nearly 25 minutes into tonight’s match at the Emirates.

Manchester United (4-4-2): Van der Sar; Evra, Smalling, Vidic, Rafael, Nani, Scholes, Fletcher, Gibson; Berbatov, Rooney.

Subs: Lindegaard, Fabio Da Silva, 23 Evans, Anderson, Giggs, Owen, Hernandez

Six Premier League clubs will be back in action this midweek before the league once again gives way to the FA Cup as the fourth round will present itself this weekend in England. While the three midweek fixtures will allow the clubs participating a chance to play catch up to certain members of the rest of the league, the midweek fracas won’t be without some interesting and potentially important fixtures.

Tuesday and Wednesday will witness matches as both the top and bottom of the table is concerned and also allows the continuation of some of week 24’s most attractive stories to endure.