Injury-hit Liverpool looks to avoid FA Cup upset

MANCHESTER (AP):

It's a match that has all the ingredients of a classic FA Cup upset.

An injury-hit, inconsistent, and potentially jaded Premier League heavyweight making a 500-mile round trip to a team in the lower reaches of the fourth tier with a small ground, poor field, and a recent history of shocking a top side.

Exeter's home game against Liverpool is the pick of the games in the third round of the FA Cup when the giants of the Premier League join the teams from the lower leagues and non-league in the world's oldest club knockout competition.

As always, the search is on for a huge shock on one of the most exciting weekends in the English calendar and it could come at the 8,500-capacity St. James' Park, which located in the south-west corner of England is one of the most remote grounds in the country.

Liverpool is in the middle of a gruelling schedule it will be the team's sixth game in 19 days that is taking its toll on the squad. Manager Juergen Klopp is without a senior centre back for the match as Mamadou Sakho, Dejan Lovren, Martin Skrtel, and Kolo Toure are all hurt, while attackers Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho are also injured.

The match comes three days after a League Cup semi-final match at Stoke and five days before a Premier League game against first-place Arsenal.

"It will be a team that hasn't played too often together," Klopp said. "If this is a chance for Exeter, then they have to take it.

"I saw after the rain the pitch is not in the best shape. The dressing room should be small, I heard, so maybe we should not spend the longest time in it."

This will all be music to the ears of Exeter's players, whose team is 16th in the 24-team League Two a gap of 76 places to Liverpool in the English ladder. The last time Exeter reached this stage was in 2005, when it took Manchester United to a replay after a goalless draw at Old Trafford.