Stevie set for skipper milestone

If the inspirational No.8 scores at all this season in the Barclays Premier League he will equal the club record held by Billy Liddell of finding the net in 14 successive league campaigns.

Head to head (league only):

At West Brom: Liverpool 24 wins, West Brom 20 wins, 16 draws.

Overall: Liverpool 57 wins, West Brom 30 wins, 33 draws.

The last time the sides met back in April, Kenny Dalglish and Roy Hodgson were in the charge of the teams with Peter Odemwingie's 75th minute goal giving Albion a 1-0 win at Anfield. It was 45 years to the day since their last Anfield victory.

Earlier in the season, the Reds won 2-0 at the Hawthorns with Charlie Adam's ninth-minute penalty and a first-half injury-time strike by Andy Carroll securing three points.

The Reds have an excellent record at the Hawthorns, winning nine of the last 10 fixtures, scoring 28 and conceding four. 25 of those goals have come in the last eight visits.

In the Premier League, the clubs have met 12 times with Liverpool winning 10 and losing two. The victories have been earned without conceding a single goal.

In those games the Reds have scored 28 goals with last season's defeat at Anfield being the only one in which they have failed to score.

Liverpool have lost only two of the last 17 visits.

The last time the sides played out a goalless draw at the Hawthorns was in November 1968.

The 6-0 victory on this ground in April 2003 is Liverpool's biggest ever league win over Albion.

Michael Owen's four-goal haul in April 2003 is the last hat-trick scored by a Liverpool player against the Baggies. John Wark in a 5-0 win in March 1985 is the only other to achieve the feat for the Reds on this ground.

The Reds have failed to score only once in the last 17 visits - February 1981.

Last season, Liverpool won eight away games in the Premier League - two more than they did at Anfield. Only the top three teams won more while only one of their 19 games on the road produced a draw - 0-0 at Wigan.

They conceded just 24 goals on the road - with only Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea letting in fewer.

This is the 12th time in the last 17 seasons Liverpool have kicked off a league campaign away from home.

The Reds began their last Premier League campaign with a 1-1 home draw with Sunderland - Luis Suarez scored after missing a penalty.

Liverpool have lost just four of the last 36 opening day fixtures with their last defeat coming at Tottenham in 2009.

Their last opening-day win came a year earlier at Sunderland with Fernando Torres scoring the only goal.

Of their 20 Premier League opening-weekend fixtures the Reds have won 10 and drawn seven with three losses.

Jordan Henderson could play his 50th game for Liverpool.

Andy Carroll has scored three goals in his last three visits to the Hawthorns.

Should Liverpool draw on Saturday, it will be their 100th away from home in the Premier League.

Brendan Rodgers and Steve Clarke are two of six Premier League managers who this weekend will be managing their current club for the first time in a league game.

Rodgers is one of two men who will be managing the team he faced on the final day of last season (Swansea versus Liverpool). The other is Paul Lambert, who was then in charge of Norwich against Aston Villa.

The last Liverpool manager to win his first league game in sole charge was Graeme Souness who saw his side beat Norwich 3-0 at Anfield in April 1991.

Bob Paisley was the last Reds boss to achieve the feat away from home when Liverpool won 2-1 at Luton on the opening day of the 1974-75 season.

For the record, Gerard Houllier saw his first game as joint-manager alongside Roy Evans result in a win at Southampton in 1998.

Rodgers was in charge of a Swansea team last season that did a league double over West Brom, winning 2-1 at the Hawthorns.

Liverpool have met Albion twice before on the opening day of the season. In 1923 West Brom won 2-0 at home with the Reds winning by the same score at Anfield in 1982. On both occasions Liverpool were holders of the league title.

The Baggies are looking to record back-to-back league wins over Liverpool for the first time since April 1967.

Last season Albion finished 10th, winning six games at home. They scored 21 times in front of their own fans with only Aston Villa (20) and relegated Wolves (19) scoring fewer.

Like Liverpool they won more away from home - seven.

West Brom have won only three of the last 35 league meetings home and away with two coming in the last four meetings.

Last season, Albion began their campaign with a 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United.

They have won just one of their last 14 opening day games - beating Hull in 2006-07. They last recorded a top-flight first-day win in 1978 when they beat Ipswich 2-1 at home.

Two years ago they began the campaign with a 6-0 defeat at Chelsea.

They were slow starters at home last season, winning just one of their opening five games, and had to wait until mid-October (against Wolves) to take all three points.

The only league hat-tricks scored by West Brom against Liverpool came in 1936 and 1938 and were netted by the same man - Billy Richardson.

Peter Odemwingie was leading scorer for the Baggies last season with 11 (10 in the league).

Referee Phil Dowd last took charge of Liverpool in last season's FA Cup final with Chelsea.

Last season's final league positions:

Liverpool: Pld 38, won 14,  drawn 10, lost 14, goals for 47, against 40, points 52, position: 8th.

West Brom: Pld 38, won 13, drawn 8, lost 17, goals for 45, against 52, points 47, position: 10th.

Scorers last season (league in brackets):

Liverpool: Suarez 17 (11), Bellamy 9 (6), Carroll 9 (4), Gerrard 9 (5), Maxi 6 (4), Kuyt 5 (2), Skrtel 4 (2), Adam 2 (2), Agger 2 (1), Downing 2 (0), Henderson 2 (2), Shelvey 2 (1), Coates 1 (1), Johnson 1 (1), Kelly 1 (0), own goals 7 (5).

West Brom: Odemwingie 11 (10), Long 8 (8), Fortune 5 (2), Morrison 5 (5), Cox 4 (0), Brunt 3 (2), Dorrans 3 (3), Scharner 3 (3), Andrews 2 (2), McAuley 2 (2), Olsson 2 (2), Thomas 2 (1), Mulumbu 1 (1), Reid 1 (1), Ridgewell 1 (1), Tchoyi 1 (1), own goals 1 (1).