The chances are you’ll come up with something better than us

It wasn’t until The Spoiler tried to figure out how we would set Liverpool up tonight that we realised just how tough a task Rafael Benitez faces. They need to field as attacking a line-up as possible without leaving themselves so vulnerable at the back that they risk humiliation. After lots of umming and ahhing, here’s what we settled on:

Playing without full-backs is risky with Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou both likely to start for Chelsea so we’d need Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger to move wide a lot with Javier Mascherano operating as a virtual centre-back at times. The reason we chose Sami Hyypia over Martin Skrtel is that he has scored in three previous Champions League quarter-finals for Liverpool and could unsettle a Chelsea defence missing John Terry at set-pieces.

Our approach is fairly suicidal so if you have a better way of balancing all-out attack with a steady defence, let us know with a comment below.

Like the last post, but the other way around innit

Liverpool’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation has been scuppered by Macherano’s suspension. Therefore, rather than replacing him like-for-like with Lucas, we think Liverpool should bring in Benayoun, who has been brilliant recently, and switch to 4-4-2 with Kuyt up front.

Torres     Kuyt
Gerrard
Riera                                          Benayoun
Alonso
Aurelio    Carragher    Skrtel    Arbeloa
ReinaPlaying like this, The Spoiler believes Liverpool can take the game to Chelsea and try to finish them off in the home leg, something they failed to do last year. The drawback is that Yossi Benayoun is said to be struggling for fitness, butwe’re thinking this could be a scurrilous mind game.

Let us know who you would pick below…

L’pool/ Chelsea, UCL Quarter-final 1st leg, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 2

Liverpool and Chelsea will continue with their annual tradition of playing each other in the Champions League, and it’s a tight game to call. We think Hiddink will bring an attacking game to Anfield, but will probably start with one striker up front:

Drogba
Malouda                                  Anelka
Lampard    Essien
Mikel
Cole    Terry    Carvalho    Ivanovic
Cech

What do you think of our prediction? Should Ballack make the cut? Maybe they should field two up front? Let us know your preferred lineup below…

Manchester Utd/Porto, UCL Quarter-final 1st leg, 7.45pm, ITV1

Alex Ferguson couldn’t really have asked for a better draw in the Champions League, and equally, Porto couldn’t have asked for a worse one. But who will make the Red Devils starting lineup at Old Trafford tonight?

Here’s our selection:

Van Der Sar
O’Shea     Vidic    Evans    Evra
Ronaldo    Carrick    Scholes    Park
Rooney    Macheda

We’ve thrown in a curveball by in the form of bloke-you’d-never-heard-of-last-week Federico Macheda. We think he may start ahead of Carlos Tevez, who may be wheezing from Sunday’s match and the ill-fated high altitude international match in Bolivia.

Let us know your thoughts by adding your preferred lineup in the comments section below…

Villarreal/ Arsenal, UCL Quart-final 1st Leg, 7.45pm, ITV4

As Arsenal prepare for tonight’s match in the province of Valencia, we’re asking you to step into Professor Wenger’s shoes for a moment, in order to pick your prefereed lineup for tonight.

Here’s ours:

Adebayor
Nasri    Fabregas    Walcott
Song    Denilson
Clichy    Gallas    Toure    Sagna
Almunia Essentially, this is the same formation and lineup that beat Manchester City, with Nasri in for cup-tied Arshavin.

Do you agree with our selection, or will Emmanuel Eboue get a start ahead of Frail Walcott? Perhaps a 4-4-2 featuring Nicky Bendtner is in order?

List your lineup below…