Liverpool Preview

By: Martin | April 20th, 2009

Liverpool

Current Position: 2nd, 20-10-2 (70 points, +38 goal differential)

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Last Meeting: Arsenal 1-Liverpool 1 (12/21/08)

Everton Watch: at Chelsea

Well, it seems very sudden after the big disappointment over the weekend, but we’re back in action tomorrow as we travel up to Anfield to play Liverpool. I don’t know how you feel, but I don’t dislike Liverpool nearly as much as Manchester United or Chelsea, and I’d rather see them win the title than either of those teams. Still, apart from the normal happiness that a big Arsenal win brings me, I would find it very satisfying to be the team that ends Liverpool’s title hopes and sends them home with a trophyless season.

There’s this sense going around that somehow this game doesn’t matter to Arsenal. That is dead wrong, for 2 reasons: (1) Given the clubs’ history, a trip to Anfield always matters, even if only pride is at stake; and (2) as previously explained, the Champions League format is changing next year, and the 4th place club from England will be placed into an open qualifying round draw, where the club could now draw ANY of the other clubs in qualifying. In other words, we won’t be able to count on the protection of being seeded so we could only draw a team like FC Twente or Slavia Prague, and could instead now be faced with the prospect of having to play (if the season ended today) Valencia, Hamburg, Genoa, Lyon, Rangers, or Benfica just to get into the group stages. Aside from the prestige, the group stage games bring in a huge amount of revenue to the club, and missing out would really hurt the team. So getting to 3rd place, which will get an automatic entry into the group stage next year, would be huge for the club. We’re only 6 points behind Chelsea, who play an in-form Everton on Wednesday. We’ve still got a game against Chelsea at the Emirates in May, so if we could trim that margin to 3 or 4 points by then, we’d really apply some pressure to the Blues, and they could most definitely slip up in the homestretch of the season.

Sir Alex has come out and said that he believes Arsenal will give 100% to try to win tomorrow at Anfield, because Arsene Wenger is a “winner.” It’s a nice sentiment, and rare words of praise for Wenger from Fergie. But SAF can get fucked as far as I’m concerned–to dress up as praise what is so transparently part of his b.s. mindgames with Rafa is laughable. He and Rafa can keep manipulating the media to try to “psych each other out” all they want, but don’t drag us into it. We’ll be trying to win, but we sure as hell won’t be doing it for him.

For our part, the players are all saying the right things. Robbie said, “[w]e are disappointed, but we need to get our stuff together and fight for the other two titles.” Gibbs said the club would take it as “a lesson.” Kolo said, “[w]e just have to put all this to the back now and focus on the next game. Our target is now the League and Europe.” Wenger said, “I would love to play Chelsea again in the Champions League Final. We could take our revenge. But we have another little team to play before then.”

Those are all the kind of things you want to hear after a disappointing loss–everyone seems willing to look towards the future instead of dwelling on the game, and everyone is now focused on improving our standing in the league and winning the Champions League. But talk is cheap, and the real barometer of whether or not we’ve moved on will be on the field tomorrow. This is always a very tough game–Liverpool have won five league games in a row, including dismantling United at Old Trafford, and have not lost a game at Anfield all season.

While we will be going in looking for points, we will be doing so shorthanded. Clichy will not only be out for this game, but for the foreseeable future, as his “back problem” has turned out to be a stress fracture in his vertebra, which puts him out for about a month. That’s the kind of injury that requires pure rest, so by the time he recovers and gets back into game shape, the season will be over. If we see him again at all this season, it won’t be for more than a game or two, I wouldn’t think. It’s a tough blow for Gael, one of my favorite players, who has really had an up-and-down year after being a rock all year for us last season. He’s still very young (will turn 24 this summer), and hopefully has many great years of service in an Arsenal shirt ahead of him.

Adebayor and van Persie, both of whom were substituted late in the Chelsea game, will be left out of the squad. Adebayor hurt his hamstring and van Persie hurt his groin. Wenger called both of these problems “little,” (hehe, he said “little groin”) so hopefully both players will be ready to go against United next week. Djourou is still out (although the club still hasn’t said anything about what his injury actually is and how serious it is–if anyone has heard anything, please leave it in the comments), as are Gallas and Rosicky. In better news, Sagna and Eduardo rejoin the squad, and Almunia is expected to be back in the lineup on Sunday against Middlesbrough. I expect the lineup to look like:

Fabianski

Sagna-Toure-Silvestre-Gibbs

Walcott-Fabregas-Song-Nasri

Bendtner-Arshavin

Many are tipping Eduardo to start up top, but given that he hasn’t played in so long, I see Wenger going a different way. Besides, when Bendtner and Arshavin have played up front together this season, they’ve been nothing short of spectacular, albeit against lesser competition–this is a great opportunity for them to see if they can be as effective against a top defensive team. It also would not surprise me if Walcott, who has seen a lot of action over the last week, was given a game off, and either Arshavin or Eboue started on the right.

Liverpool will be missing Gerrard, but the rest of the squad will be rested, not having played since their game against Chelsea last Tuesday. Everyone knows Liverpool well enough that I don’t need to go into personnel and lineup, suffice to say that it’s a world-class side with a lot to play for, and will be a tough test. They have had problems getting service to Torres without Gerrard, though, so if we can mark him tight and control the midfield, we may be able to keep them off the board. They do like to play balls over the top, though, and Torres has an abundance of both pace and skill, so Fabianski really needs to be careful in deciding when to come out and when to stay back.

Let’s get back on the horse and start a new unbeaten streak. 3 points would be great, but you can never be too disappointed with a draw at Anfield, either. At any rate, all the pressure is on them so hopefully the team can loosen up and put Saturday’s disappointment behind us.

Come on Arsenal.