The two clubs whose status as members of the 'Big Four' is under most threat this season lock horns at Anfield on Sunday in what could be described as a must-win affair for both of them.
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez claims the showdown with Arsenal heralds “the beginning of a new season” for the Reds, whose Champions League campaign ended ignominiously with a 2-1 home defeat by Fiorentina on Wednesday. That means the Merseyside giants have now won only three of their last 14 matches in all competitions, and have failed to secure victory at Anfield since October 25. If Liverpool don't dispose of the Gunners on Sunday afternoon, then far from being a new start it will be a frustrating continuation of a season that has already fallen well short of expectations.
The Reds currently languish, by their standards, back in seventh place, 12 points behind leaders Chelsea, although a positive spin on the situation would be that they are only three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games and have not lost at Anfield since Aston Villa beat them in August. Moreover, Liverpool are unbeaten in their last five home league games against Arsenal, winning three and drawing two.
The Gunners, in third-place, can move seven points clear of Liverpool if they can conjure their first Anfield victory since October 2003. That match saw a Sami Hyypia own goal and a sublime strike from Robert Pires cancel out Harry Kewell's opener as Arsene Wenger's side maintained an unbeaten season that culminated in their last title triumph in May 2004. Despite their recent stumble - losing four of their last six matches in all competitions and failing to score in each of those defeats - Wenger refuses to concede that it is now a two-horse race for the Premier League title between Chelsea and Manchester United, insisting that the Gunners can still win it themselves. If the Frenchman is looking for omens, four of Arsenal's last five League victories at Anfield have seen them go on to be crowned champions that season.
More immediately, though, the less grandiose target for both managers on Sunday will simply be to stabilise their respective teams' current situations by defeating a major rival.
Both sides have been disrupted by injuries this season, though Liverpool look to have turned the corner in that respect with Alberto Aquilani, their £20 million summer signing from Roma, having made his first start of the season in midweek against Fiorentina - a game in which talismanic striker Fernando Torres also returned from injury. In contrast, Arsenal's treatment room is still bursting at the seams, a factor which influenced Wenger's team selection for the Champions League tie with Olympiakos on Wednesday. Having already won their group comfortably to reach the knock-out stages, Arsenal fielded the youngest side in the competition's history (average age: 21) in Piraeus. Kerrea Gilbert, Fran Merida, Carlos Vela, Jack Wilshere and in particular Aaron Ramsey all performed well in a side that also featured debutants Kyle Bartley and Tom Cruise, and Wenger was proud of the way the youngsters acquitted themselves in a narrow defeat.
Another young Arsenal side had come unstuck at Manchester City a week earlier in the League Cup, the competition from which they eliminated Liverpool six weeks ago. In that encounter Merida and Nicklas Bendtner scored for the Gunners in a 2-1 win at the Emirates, with Emiliano Insua replying for the Reds.
FORM GUIDE
Liverpool
09 Dec (Champions League) v Fiorentina (H) LOST 1-2
05 Dec (Premier League) v Blackburn Rovers (A) DREW 0-0
29 Nov (Premier League) v Everton (A) WON 2-0
24 Nov (Champions League) v Debrecen (A) WON 1-0
21 Nov (Premier League) v Manchester CIty (H) DREW 2-2
Arsenal
09 Dec (Champions League) v Olympiakos (A) LOST 0-1
05 Dec (Premier League) v Stoke City (H) WON 2-0
02 Dec (League Cup) v Manchester City (A) LOST 0-3
29 Nov (Premier League) v Chelsea (H) LOST 0-3
24 Nov (Champions League) v Standard Liege (H) WON 2-0
TEAM NEWS
Liverpool
Fernando Torres could make his first league start for six weeks after recovering from a hernia problem, havng come on as a substitute against Fiorentina. Alberto Aquilani is in the running for a starting berth, having made his full debut in that Champions League defeat.
Their availability signals that Liverpool are close to having a fully fit squad again, with Ryan Babel, recovering from an ankle injury, the only doubt for Sunday's clash.
Arsenal
Midfielder Alex Song is free of a domestic ban and is likely to start in a side that will be much-changed side from the one that lost to Olympiakos in midweek.
Eduardo (thigh) and Abou Diaby (calf) could be back in contention if they recover in time, but top striker Robin van Persie's recovery from surgery to reconstruct ankle ligaments will keep him sidelined until at least March, while injury-plagued Tomas Rosicky also misses out with a groin strain.
They join Kieran Gibbs (fractured metatarsal), Johan Djouoru (knee), Nicklas Bendtner (hernia) and Gael Clichy (back) on the sidelines, with Emmanuel Eboue also nursing a hamstring problem.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Liverpool
There will be much expectancy on Merseyside if, as expected, Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani starts against Arsenal. After his full debut against Fiorentina, Benitez said: “To see Aquilani, to see [Fernando] Torres, those were the real positive things for the next match and the rest of our season. Aquilani showed his quality, his touch was good. His vision and passing were good but obviously he will have to work on his match fitness." It was while playing against Arsenal, for Roma, in last season's Champions League, that Aquilani sustained the injury that so delayed the start of his Liverpool career. Meanwhile Torres, who is the Reds' leading scorer with 10 goals, all in the Premier League, needs two more to reach 50 for Liverpool in the league. The Spaniard has missed much of Liverpool's disappointing run of form and results leading up to this match, and will be eager to get back in the groove.
Arsenal
It is impossible not to refer to Andrey Arshavin in the context of this match: it was at Anfield last April that the Russian playmaker announced his arrival in English football by scoring all of Arsenal's goals in a thrilling 4-4 encounter. Arshavin again showed his class last week against Stoke, when he was deployed as a centre-forward and ran the Potters' big centre-backs ragged with his movement, vision and positional play. He scored Arsenal's opener, missed a one-on-one, saw an effort deflected on to the bar and won the penalty which Cesc Fabregas failed to convert. If he leads the Arsenal line as well against Liverpool, the hosts will be in for a busy afternoon. Welsh teenager Aaron Ramsey, who scored the Gunners' second against Stoke after coming off the bench, was the man-of-the-match against Olympiakos in midweek, producing an array of astute passes that split open the Greeks' defence but on which his team-mates failed to capitalise. If Ramsey is involved at Anfield, it will be another step in his development.
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez claims the showdown with Arsenal heralds “the beginning of a new season” for the Reds, whose Champions League campaign ended ignominiously with a 2-1 home defeat by Fiorentina on Wednesday. That means the Merseyside giants have now won only three of their last 14 matches in all competitions, and have failed to secure victory at Anfield since October 25. If Liverpool don't dispose of the Gunners on Sunday afternoon, then far from being a new start it will be a frustrating continuation of a season that has already fallen well short of expectations.
The Reds currently languish, by their standards, back in seventh place, 12 points behind leaders Chelsea, although a positive spin on the situation would be that they are only three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games and have not lost at Anfield since Aston Villa beat them in August. Moreover, Liverpool are unbeaten in their last five home league games against Arsenal, winning three and drawing two.
The Gunners, in third-place, can move seven points clear of Liverpool if they can conjure their first Anfield victory since October 2003. That match saw a Sami Hyypia own goal and a sublime strike from Robert Pires cancel out Harry Kewell's opener as Arsene Wenger's side maintained an unbeaten season that culminated in their last title triumph in May 2004. Despite their recent stumble - losing four of their last six matches in all competitions and failing to score in each of those defeats - Wenger refuses to concede that it is now a two-horse race for the Premier League title between Chelsea and Manchester United, insisting that the Gunners can still win it themselves. If the Frenchman is looking for omens, four of Arsenal's last five League victories at Anfield have seen them go on to be crowned champions that season.
More immediately, though, the less grandiose target for both managers on Sunday will simply be to stabilise their respective teams' current situations by defeating a major rival.
Both sides have been disrupted by injuries this season, though Liverpool look to have turned the corner in that respect with Alberto Aquilani, their £20 million summer signing from Roma, having made his first start of the season in midweek against Fiorentina - a game in which talismanic striker Fernando Torres also returned from injury. In contrast, Arsenal's treatment room is still bursting at the seams, a factor which influenced Wenger's team selection for the Champions League tie with Olympiakos on Wednesday. Having already won their group comfortably to reach the knock-out stages, Arsenal fielded the youngest side in the competition's history (average age: 21) in Piraeus. Kerrea Gilbert, Fran Merida, Carlos Vela, Jack Wilshere and in particular Aaron Ramsey all performed well in a side that also featured debutants Kyle Bartley and Tom Cruise, and Wenger was proud of the way the youngsters acquitted themselves in a narrow defeat.
Another young Arsenal side had come unstuck at Manchester City a week earlier in the League Cup, the competition from which they eliminated Liverpool six weeks ago. In that encounter Merida and Nicklas Bendtner scored for the Gunners in a 2-1 win at the Emirates, with Emiliano Insua replying for the Reds.
FORM GUIDE
Liverpool
09 Dec (Champions League) v Fiorentina (H) LOST 1-2
05 Dec (Premier League) v Blackburn Rovers (A) DREW 0-0
29 Nov (Premier League) v Everton (A) WON 2-0
24 Nov (Champions League) v Debrecen (A) WON 1-0
21 Nov (Premier League) v Manchester CIty (H) DREW 2-2
Arsenal
09 Dec (Champions League) v Olympiakos (A) LOST 0-1
05 Dec (Premier League) v Stoke City (H) WON 2-0
02 Dec (League Cup) v Manchester City (A) LOST 0-3
29 Nov (Premier League) v Chelsea (H) LOST 0-3
24 Nov (Champions League) v Standard Liege (H) WON 2-0
TEAM NEWS
Liverpool
Fernando Torres could make his first league start for six weeks after recovering from a hernia problem, havng come on as a substitute against Fiorentina. Alberto Aquilani is in the running for a starting berth, having made his full debut in that Champions League defeat.
Their availability signals that Liverpool are close to having a fully fit squad again, with Ryan Babel, recovering from an ankle injury, the only doubt for Sunday's clash.
Arsenal
Midfielder Alex Song is free of a domestic ban and is likely to start in a side that will be much-changed side from the one that lost to Olympiakos in midweek.
Eduardo (thigh) and Abou Diaby (calf) could be back in contention if they recover in time, but top striker Robin van Persie's recovery from surgery to reconstruct ankle ligaments will keep him sidelined until at least March, while injury-plagued Tomas Rosicky also misses out with a groin strain.
They join Kieran Gibbs (fractured metatarsal), Johan Djouoru (knee), Nicklas Bendtner (hernia) and Gael Clichy (back) on the sidelines, with Emmanuel Eboue also nursing a hamstring problem.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Liverpool
There will be much expectancy on Merseyside if, as expected, Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani starts against Arsenal. After his full debut against Fiorentina, Benitez said: “To see Aquilani, to see [Fernando] Torres, those were the real positive things for the next match and the rest of our season. Aquilani showed his quality, his touch was good. His vision and passing were good but obviously he will have to work on his match fitness." It was while playing against Arsenal, for Roma, in last season's Champions League, that Aquilani sustained the injury that so delayed the start of his Liverpool career. Meanwhile Torres, who is the Reds' leading scorer with 10 goals, all in the Premier League, needs two more to reach 50 for Liverpool in the league. The Spaniard has missed much of Liverpool's disappointing run of form and results leading up to this match, and will be eager to get back in the groove.
Arsenal
It is impossible not to refer to Andrey Arshavin in the context of this match: it was at Anfield last April that the Russian playmaker announced his arrival in English football by scoring all of Arsenal's goals in a thrilling 4-4 encounter. Arshavin again showed his class last week against Stoke, when he was deployed as a centre-forward and ran the Potters' big centre-backs ragged with his movement, vision and positional play. He scored Arsenal's opener, missed a one-on-one, saw an effort deflected on to the bar and won the penalty which Cesc Fabregas failed to convert. If he leads the Arsenal line as well against Liverpool, the hosts will be in for a busy afternoon. Welsh teenager Aaron Ramsey, who scored the Gunners' second against Stoke after coming off the bench, was the man-of-the-match against Olympiakos in midweek, producing an array of astute passes that split open the Greeks' defence but on which his team-mates failed to capitalise. If Ramsey is involved at Anfield, it will be another step in his development.
1 comment:
Both teams are out of track but Liverpool had a wonderful record to defeat Manchester United at Anfield Stadium in October. So, I will pick Liverpool base on the fact above.
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