Henderson turns attention to Russia trip

Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson believes Thursday's Europa League tie in St Petersburg provides a chance to put their surprise defeat to West Brom behind them.



The Reds dominated at Anfield - Steven Gerrard having a penalty saved by Ben Foster - but were stung by goals in the last nine minutes from Gareth McAuley and Romelu Lukaku.



That ended a run of three successive home victories, in which they had scored 12 and not conceded, and came after encouraging back-to-back draws against Arsenal and Manchester City in their previous two matches.



With the confidence bubble burst and hopes of a top-four finish in tatters, trailing Tottenham by 12 points with a dozen games remaining, Henderson believes a return to European action can provide an important boost.



"We just have to keep going, keep our heads up and bounce back from this," the England international said ahead of tomorrow's trip to face Zenit St Petersburg.



"We just have to stay positive and think about the next game now which is Zenit in the Europa League on Thursday night.



"We know the European game is important as well but I think every game is important to be honest.



"We will keep improving and make sure we keep going in the right direction.



"Hopefully we can improve, get some better results in the league and look to close that gap.



"We have to take each game as it comes and play well every week and hopefully we will get better results than last night."



West Brom arrived at Anfield with a gameplan to press and stifle and they achieved that to a greater extent, although they were indebted to Foster for a string of saves to keep the scores level.



Liverpool missed the cutting edge provided by £12million January signing Daniel Sturridge, who was sidelined with a thigh injury after scoring four goals in six appearances.



"Daniel is a quality player and everyone has seen that since he's come in," added Henderson.



"You obviously miss good players and that was the case.



"We're all very disappointed. We had a few chances in the game but we just couldn't take them.



"We just have to stay positive and concentrate on the next game.



"The manager didn't have much to say after. We all know we didn't play particularly well but we have to move on.



"I don't think we passed the ball as well as we could have done. We didn't play particularly well.



"We had a lot of the ball but we didn't create as much as we have been doing.



"It's a game we could have won but it just wasn't our night.



"It's frustrating but that's football. You have to take these things on board and learn from it."



Forward Fabio Borini is looking for a personal boost from the Europa League having struggled to get up to match sharpness after his return from a broken foot in recent weeks.



The Italian has made just one start - in the shock FA Cup defeat at Oldham - and three substitute appearances but is likely to be given a chance in Russia.



His only goal in 15 appearances since arriving for £10.5million from Roma in the summer came in August's Europa League qualifier against Gomel.



Borini feels he has benefited from gaining European experience and hopes to build on that further.



"It has been very helpful to my career," he told Press Association Sport.



"I played a couple of games in the Europa League before I got injured and it has been really good because it is a different way of football to the Premier League.



"You have to be organised. You have to take care of not conceding first and then you think about scoring because not to concede away goals is important."

Suarez will lead Reds attack against Udinese

Liverpool travel to Udinese looking for the win to guarantee their place in the last 32 of the Europa League.

The Reds are currently second in the group and a win over Udinese, who are already out, will ensure their progression into the knockout stages.



A draw could be good enough if Young Boys fail to beat Anzhi, but a defeat in Italy will mean an early exit from Europe for Brendan Rodgers' side even if Young Boys also lose as as the Swiss side would be top of a three-way head-to-head involving the Reds and Udinese.



Rodgers has named a strong squad with Luis Suarez set to start as he is suspended for this weekend's Premier League clash with West Ham.



Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is missing through illness, while Daniel Agger and Lucas Leiva have been rested.



Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin could rest a number of his top stars as he looks to concentrate on Serie A.



If Antonio Di Natale plays he will equal Valerio Bertotto's Udinese record of 33 appearances in UEFA club competition.



Giampiero Pinzi is available again after injury as Udinese look to end a run of three straight defeats in the Europa League.

The squad in full is: Jones, Johnson, Enrique, Sahin, Suarez, Cole, Assaidi, Henderson, Coates, Downing, Carragher, Allen, Reina, Suso, Sterling, Shelvey, Coady, Skrtel, Wisdom.

Rodgers: Big gun to start in Europa

Brendan Rodgers plans to name a strong side for the Europa League clash with Young Boys on Thursday as the Reds attempt to seal qualification at the earliest opportunity.

Should Udinese fail to beat Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia earlier in the day, Liverpool could book their place in the knockout stages by claiming three points against the Swiss outfit.



With that scenario in mind, Rodgers intends to call on captain Steven Gerrard and the senior members of his squad at Anfield tomorrow to complete the task, which began with a 5-3 victory over the visitors in Switzerland.



"Out there, we never took Steven Gerrard and one or two other players but they'll all be involved tomorrow night," the boss explained at his press briefing on Wednesday.



"We'll have a strong team. I will make changes in the game - I have to respect that we've got a really busy schedule now over the course of the next 10 days.



"From tomorrow we'll have four games in 10 days, and that's a big ask to keep the same group of players playing in all of those.



"But it's an opportunity for us tomorrow night, all being well we'll get the result and if the other result goes with us, we'll be able to navigate our way through the group.



"That's always been our intention - to qualify. We'll put out a team that we feel can win the game.



"You want to be in these competitions, as a manager and a coach and a player you want to be playing in European competition. It will be easier for us going forward once we've supplemented the group and I've got the right strength in depth.



"The competition has been fantastic, we've got some good results in it, some excellent performances, and we've gained some young players out of it. Our focus is to win the game and if we can qualify at the end of it, it will be a good night.



"I know what my priority is but I also respect the competition and I want to go through in the competition so we'll be out tomorrow night to win the game and it's up to ourselves to do that."



Young Boys have rallied since that opening-match defeat by the Reds, recording back-to-back victories over Udinese, including a 3-2 triumph on Italian soil.



And Rodgers knows Liverpool will face a challenge at Anfield. He continued: "Young Boys are a good side. They might not be showing that in some of their league form of late since we played them last.



"But certainly in this tournament, the games against Udinese, they have done very well. I like their idea, how they try to play football - 4-3-3 and look to pass the ball.



"Tactically they are good, so we know it is going to be a difficult game so we need to have a strong group."

UEFA postpone Israel Europa League match

UEFA have confirmed the postponement of Athletic Bilbao's Europa League game against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona due to ongoing safety concerns in Israel.



The Primera Division club were set to fly to Tel Aviv in advance of tomorrow's game Group I fixture in nearby Haifa, despite recent violence in the neighbouring Gaza strip.



A bomb ripped through a bus near Israel's military headquarters in Tel Aviv this morning, wounding at least 10 people and prompting Athletic to contact UEFA's emergency panel in pursuit of a postponement to tomorrow's match.



A statement released by UEFA this afternoon read: "The UEFA Emergency Panel met today and decided to postpone the UEFA Europa League match between Hapoel Kiryat Shmona FC and Athletic Club which was scheduled to take place on Thursday November 22 at the Kiryat Eliezer Stadium in Haifa, due to the tense security situation in the region.



"A decision concerning the rescheduling of the match will be made by the end of the week."



A statement published on Athletic's official Twitter account read: "UEFA have confirmed to us that the match has been suspended."



Reports in Spain had suggested Athletic had already made attempts to convince the European game's governing body to hold the fixture outside of Israel, in light of the country's ongoing conflict with Palestine.



The Basque travelling party had arrived at Bilbao airport in anticipation of a five-hour flight to Israel, but UEFA's decision saw the players and coaching staff return to their Lezama training complex.