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The pressure of a Merseyside derby could be coming at the wrong time for Liverpool, but Everton fans must be looking to heap more misery on their struggling city rivals.



Both teams have had disappointing starts to the season, but few football fans expected Liverpool to be sitting in the bottom three after seven games, with just one Premier League victory so far this season. Everton sit just one place above them on goal difference, after their win over Birmingham last time out – but this clash at Goodison could have added importance for Liverpool as they have already drifted out to 8/1 with Betfred in the football betting to finish the season in the Premier League top four.



Liverpool are going to be without Dirk Kuyt, but could have Fernando Torres back in the side after recovering from an adductor strain. Although he has disappointed this season there is no doubting his quality, and as a big-game player Reds fans may fancy the 11/2 on offer for Torres to score the first goal of the derby.



One man who has scored in a winning Everton side over Liverpool is Danny Cadamarteri, and he believes the Toffees are "more than capable" of piling even more pressure on Roy Hodgson's shoulders and indeed the Toffees are many people's Premier League tips to win on Sunday.



Cadamarteri claimed the Reds look "rock bottom" and the blue side of the city could "put one over" on their more illustrious rivals.



He went on to say: "They're obviously going to be up for the derby but I think confidence in the Liverpool camp is low, and I just have this sneaky feeling that it could turn out to be one of those weekends where Everton have an opportunity to brag about a big win against the Reds."



Everton's defender Leighton Baines has told BBC Radio Merseyside that he thinks Tim Cahill could be the match-winner at Goodison Park. He is hoping the Australian midfielder can be the "man on the spot" for Everton, as he has been so often in the past, at the most crucial of times – and Cahill is 15/2 to open the scoring on Sunday.



My Tip of the Weekend:



With both sides struggling for form and goals, it's likely neither team will come away from this game happy, and as such 9/4 for the game to be a draw looks like the value bet.

Referees are also likely to be cracking down on bad challenges after the storm about dirty tackles - fuelled by former Kop star Danny Murphy's comments. So the 9/4 on offer with Betfred for a red card at Goodison Park looks tempting.



Sunday 17th October: Everton v Liverpool, kick-off 1.30pm - Live on Sky Sports 1.



By Drew Swainston

(Guest writer from Betfred on behalf of Beer Footy and Birds!)

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Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson has been given possibly the hardest challenge to start his Premier League life with his new club, and he now has to do it without his marquee summer signing.



Joe Cole's sending off in the opening weekend draw with Arsenal means he is now unavailable for Monday's clash with Premier League moneybags Manchester City, with Liverpool priced at 23/10 win the clash with Betfred.



Hodgson's predecessor Rafa Benitez was criticised all the time for tinkering so it was interesting to see how many changes the new man made in the Europa League qualifier with Trabzonspor.



The boss gave a second half run-out to Fernando Torres, who the football odds make 11/2 to score the first goal on Monday, and he looked much fresher than he did during the World Cup, so the Spaniard could be in line for a start at Eastlands.



Daniel Agger and Javier Mascherano are struggling with injuries and if the duo recover then they could face new signings James Milner and Mario Balotelli, who will both be making their Premier League debuts.



It is the first home game for City this season, and given their multi-million pound spending spree during the summer they will want to put on a good show for their fans.



They were disappointing against Spurs in their opening game and know they need a good start to the season if they want to win the Premier League title this season – something which they are 9/1 to do with Betfred compared to Liverpool who are priced at 14/1.



There is no doubting the overall strength of the City squad, something that Hodgson would love to have at Anfield, so the clash at Eastlands looks like it could be a sign of how both sides are likely to do over the coming season.



My Tip for Monday Night:



It's early days and neither team has settled into the season yet. Therefore I expect both teams to cancel each other out at Eastlands, and the game to end in a 1-1 draw, which at 11/2 looks a reasonable bet.



Manchester City v Liverpool - Monday 23rd August, kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports.



By Drew Swainston

(Guest writer from Betfred on behalf of Beer Footy and Birds!)

Fabio Coentrao, Ashley Cole and Karim Benzema thrown together in Transfer Window Speculation

Coentrao in, Cole out?

Today's transfer news begins with Chelsea and Real Madrid, as Jose Mourinho is apparently very keen to bring his former left back Ashley Cole to his new club Real Madrid. He seems like he will try everything to get what he wants. The Portuguese tactician regards Cole as one of the best left-backs in the world, and so in order to get him, he is willing to offer Karim Benzema as part of a deal, according to the Mail. The Mirror, also reporting that Mourinho wants Cole, states that even though Carlo Ancelotti claimed that Cole was going no-where, he is prepared to do a U-turn and allow him to leave, just as long as he gets the Portuguese World Cup left-back Fabio Coentrao. Coentrao looked very bright in the World Cup. He bombed down the left side, skipping passed players like they weren't there, and delivered beautiful crosses in the box for his attacking colleagues such as Ronaldo to blast into the back of the net. He created a lot for Portugal, and prompted the commentators to suggest that English clubs may take an interest in this bright young talent, their prophecy may yet become a reality with Chelsea.

Next, and to the team with strikers to burn, Manchester City. Yes, even though they have probably enough strikers to create a whole squad , apparently, they are monitoring Zlatan Ibrahimovich and his situation at Barcelona. The Swede didn't really win the Spanish fans over last season, and hasn't really lived up to expectation at the Nou Camp, much like Berbatov's situation at Old Trafford. However, Mancini isn't reportedley interested in Berbatov - despite being reportedley interested in every other striker.

I'm Staying!

Meanwhile, Adebayor has told reporters that he would like to move to Juventus. Maybe he sees challenging for a place in Manchester City's over-populated team as too much, or maybe he wants a change of scenery. Who knows? He was speaking too fast to understand.

Cesc Fabregas' boring and annoying transfer saga has stopped - at least for one more year, as he told Sky Sports that he is sorry for not speaking sooner to clarify his position, but he is an Arsenal player and 100% commited for the up-coming season. Even though, he says it now, there is probably no doubt that he will leave for Barcelona at some point in the next 2 years.

Arsenal are still trying to find a new defender. This time, reports suggest that they want Roma defender, Phillipe Mexes. They have wanted Phil Jagielka, Per Mertescaker, as well as a few other defender's and were also intereted in a few goalkeeper's, including Joe Hart, Rene Adler, and Mark Schwarzer, but either their clubs won't let them move, or they just don't want to move. One things for sure though, Arsenal need a new goalkeeper.

£150 Miwwion?

Liverpool are closer and closer to being taken over by the Chinese business-man Kenny Huang by the day and he has told Liverpool that he will give Roy Hodgson £150 million to spend on transfers if he takes over the club before the end of the transfer window. That's quite a transfer kitty, and one Hodgson isn't used to, and so he will stick to what he knows and try to prise Shaun Wright Phillips from Manchester City - instead of using all £150 million to try and get Messi.

£70 Million for Torres? Take it Hodgson.

Manchester City seem to be the only team making any transfer headlines this summer and it will probably be like that for the next few summers until the Arabs get bored and go and find something else to spend their money on. But for now, we will have to put up with endless rumours involving City and their millions, spending completely stupid amounts of money on average players, and even more stupid money on the better players.

There is no doubt that Fernando Torres is one of the best strikers in the world. He proved that time and time again at Liverpool by scoring goal after goal. But Liverpool bought him for about £20 million pounds. Apparently, City are prepared to smash the English transfer record by making Liverpool a £50 million profit for the striker. Thats £70 million. If that actually is the offer, Roy Hodgson should take it and run. Knowing City, he may even be able to squeeze another £10 million out of the Arabs, they'll just get it back in pocket money next week any way.

Torres has been picking up a lot of injuries, mainly because he is so difficult to tackle, and so defenders have no other alternative but to hack his legs off. But as a result of this dangerous tackle theme with Torres, he gets a few recurring injuries. Last season, when Torres was out, all Liverpool had was David N'gog. Thats the equivalent of Man United having Rooney injured and only having Danny Welbeck to replace him. Not good. But with £70 million, Hodgson could work wonders. It would change everything. He could bring in another 3 quality strikers. He did a great job at Fulham with only about £7 million - better, in fact than Liverpool in the Europa League.

So if I was Hodgson, I would take the amazing offer and give away a world class player and bring in two or three fresh faces which would in the long term strengthen the squad whilst stabalising the team. In addition, with Mascherano looking like he wants to go for £30 million, either buy a cheaper replacement or pay off some of that massive debt!

Congratulations to Fulham F.C

May I congratulate Fulham Football Club on their success in the UEFA Europa Cup tonight.

Their achievement in reaching a first European Final in their 131 year history is without doubt a 'fairytale' that has come to fruition.
Fulham are a traditional family club, built on good old fashioned principles including a strong work ethic, and the ability to operate financially within their means.

The masterstroke was the appointment of Roy Hodgson (below left) as manager in December 2007.

By employing such an experienced and astute manager in Hodgson they have allowed him to assemble and mould together a group of players (with no superstars), and install into them genuine self-belief and a magnificent team spirit, combined with a never say die attitude on the field.

Despite often being overshadowed by their affluent West London rivals Chelsea, they have achieved a milestone tonight I suspect even their own fans could only ever have dreamed of - a European Cup Final !

After an epic campaign, which began way back on the 30th July last year with a third-qualifying round tie against FK Vetra of Lithuania, The Cottagers' run has spanned a total of 18 European ties, in which they have overcome the likes of Italian giants Juventus, German Champions Wolfsburg, current Europa Cup holders Shakhtar Donetsk and last night Hamburg.

Their success has been the only shining light on what one can only describe as a poor season for our domestic clubs in Europe, with the 'Big Guns' failing to get beyond the semi-finals of either European competition this season.

The UEFA Europa Final will be staged in Hamburg at the HSH Nordbank Arena on the 12th May 2010, where Fulham will play Atletico Madrid for the trophy.

I am sure every football fan up and down the country wish Fulham the best of luck in Germany next month.

May I say your Club is a credit to the English game.