Reds face Gunners’ showdown
Liverpool, March 3: Liverpool have a fine record against the Premier League’s leading sides this season, which is just about the only solace for Jurgen Klopp as he prepares for Saturday’s crucial clash with Arsenal.
The Reds’ 3-1 defeat at Leicester on Monday exposed significant defensive weaknesses once again as a campaign that once promised much continued to unravel.
Liverpool, top of the league briefly in November, will start the weekend in fifth place, and could be sixth by kick-off, as Manchester United will move above them by beating Bournemouth in Saturday’s early game.
Klopp’s preferred 4-3-3 formation has been excellent against the rest of the current top six — in eight matches this season against Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United, Liverpool have won four and drawn four.
However, they have fallen short against teams in the lower half of the table.
Klopp has not been helped by a lack of stability in central defence, with Dejan Lovren absent for the last month with a knee injury.
Midfielder Lucas Leiva was paired with Joel Matip in the centre of defence at Leicester, and proved incapable of dealing with the pace of Jamie Vardy.
Even with Lovren fit, though, defence has been a problem for the manager, who has used 20 different centre-back combinations during his 17 months in charge.
Difficulties remain elsewhere, too. Striker Daniel Sturridge missed the Leicester defeat with a virus and, having made just five league starts all season, appears likely to leave at the end of the season. There is one other sobering statistic for Klopp to consider; after 55 matches in charge, he has amassed 94 points, three fewer than his predecessor Brendan Rodgers had managed at the same stage of his reign.
At Arsenal the issue of Arsene Wenger’s future continues to drag on into March, with the Frenchman yet to confirm whether he will extend his 21-year stay beyond the end of the season. The 67-yearold has announced he will make a decision with both his own and his club’s interests at heart.
Arsenal currently find themselves 13 points behind Chelsea but one point ahead of Liverpool going into the match at Anfield, not that Wenger is giving up on the title.
“We have to focus on our next game, we have a game in hand and things can change quickly,” he said.
“You need exceptional results and Chelsea to fail so I think it is more important to focus on our next game rather than dreaming of coming back to Chelsea.”
CAN ANYONE CATCH
CHELSEA? With a remarkable 17 wins from their last 20 league games, rarely has the phrase “runaway leaders” been more apt than when describing Chelsea’s seemingly unstoppable march to the championship.
Antonio Conte’s side, who make the short trip to London rivals West Ham on Monday, sit 10 points clear of second-placed Tottenham with just 12 games remaining, raising the possibility that the title race will reach its conclusion well before the final round of matches.
For the chasing pack, and fans of a thrilling finale, there have been dispiritingly few signs that Chelsea might stumble in the final furlong, although West Ham’s 2-1 win over Conte’s men in the League Cup earlier this season provides a glimmer of hope of another upset when the Blues return to the London Stadium. LEICESTER BACK
ON TRACK? When Jamie Vardy raced onto Marc Albrighton’s precise long pass and drilled a clinical finish beyond Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet it was as though the previous eight months of pratfalls and personal agendas had never happened to champions Leicester. In the first match after Claudio Ranieri’s shock sacking, Vardy was back to his best as Leicester, at last displaying the controlled aggression that carried them to that fairytale title triumph, ended a five-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over Liverpool.
The Foxes go into a crucial clash with lowly Hull, finally have a cause that could carry them out of the relegation zone in the nick of time. Fresh from Manchester United’s thrilling League Cup final success, Jose Mourinho needs the feelgood factor from that 3-2 win against Southampton to spark a push to qualify for the Champions League. Despite becoming the first United manager to win a major trophy in his maiden season, missing out on Europe’s elite club competition would be a huge blow for Mourinho, who knows the same failing triggered the sacking of his predecessor Louis van Gaal. United are two points adrift of the top four, in sixth place, but should be able to inch closer to their target if Wembley hero Zlatan Ibrahimovic inspires an expected victory over struggling Bournemouth at Old Trafford.