* BURNLEY against Liverpool was due to be the first third round tie

to kick off, but now because of the postponement of last Friday week due to

an unfit pitch, it will be the last initial tie to be staged. Burnley won

the Cup for the only occasion in their history 91 years ago, beating

Liverpool 1-0 in the first final to be attended by a reigning monarch, King

George V.

* Steve Cotterill's Championship side are 25 places below the

Merseysiders on the League ladder. They'd won four home Championship games

in a row until being held to a goalless draw by Reading on Saturday.

They've kept clean sheets in seven of their last nine games, including the

last three.

*

THIS is the 10th time Burnley and Liverpool have been paired together in the FA Cup.

The Clarets have not scored in their last six matches against Liverpool in the competition.

They've progressed beyond the third round in each of the last three seasons and knocked out Premiership opposition most recently in the season before last, when Fulham were dismissed at the fifth round stage.

THAT'S

A FACT

* * * *

* LIVERPOOL are bidding to win the FA Cup for the seventh time in

their history and the first time since beating Arsenal in the 2001 final at

the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The Reds last met Burnley in the third

round eight years ago, when Stan Collymore scored the only goal of the

game.

* Rafael Benitez's side have won four of their last six games, but

lost two of the last three - those being 0-1 home losses to Chelsea and

Manchester United.

*

LIVERPOOL have been knocked out at the third round stage only once in the previous 10 seasons, when then fellow Premier League Coventry beat them 1-3 at Anfield on 3 January 1998.

The Merseysiders last lost to a lower division side in the season before last when Trevor Francis' 10-man

Crystal Palace dismissed them 0-2 at Anfield in a fourth round replay.