We suggested that the blockbuster clash with Arsenal would be something of a goal-fest, and to be fair it hardly took investigative powers of Columbo-esque proportion to come to that conclusion. There was no need to call in the detectives to analyse just how we beat Swansea 5-0 on Boxing Day either.
If Christmas is a time for giving, then the Premier League fixture-list compiler has come up with the goods in arranging this Friday night shootout on the capital. Okay, so the trip to London on a Friday evening is a bit of an annoyance for the travelling red army, but at least it gives us a chance to get some late-in-the-day shopping done. And a Christmas do in the capital will do very nicely!
It has been a week to forget for Liverpool FC, and one that has confirmed a rather glaring weakness in our armoury. Two matches at Anfield against teams that have come and parked the us have yielded just two points and a solitary goal; an indicator that, whether the ‘fab four’ of Coutinho, Mane, Salah and Firmino are selected or not, we simply have to be smarter in the manner in which we go about our business.
There can’t be many occasions where an away team has deserved a point as little as Everton’s ‘earned’ in the 1-1 at Anfield on Sunday. Liverpool enjoyed 79% possession of the ball, and while we have noted in the past that this is the most regressive stat in the beautiful game, the context here is that the Reds had the ball for some 72 minutes of this match.
Sometimes, there just aren’t enough superlatives with which to describe a performance. Liverpool’s 7-0 win over Spartak Moscow – in a game we had to avoid defeat in to ensure a safe passage to the last 16 of the Champions League – was as captivating as it was simple.
Group E of the Champions League boils down to this all-or-nothing clash between Liverpool and Spartak Moscow at Anfield on Wednesday evening. Okay, so that billing isn’t quite accurate, but let’s be under no illusions: if Liverpool lose this game they are out of the Champions League.