Whilst Rafa Benitez’s men put in an admirable performance against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, the defeat makes the aim of fourth-place an extremely difficult proposition going into the final seven games.
Wins for Tottenham, Manchester City and a point for Aston Villa in the West Midlands Derby on Saturday lunchtime now means the reds no longer have their fate in their own hands and having played two games more than Manchester City and one more than both Tottenham and Aston Villa it appears as though 21 points will be needed from the final seven games.
If Liverpool do miss out on fourth spot it will not be the result at Old Trafford that will be looked upon as the reds downfall. Dropped points at places such as Stoke, Blackburn and Wolves amongst other places throughout the course of the season will be the underlining factor in a campaign which has seen Rafa’s side lacking one main ingredient – consistency.
Positive and inspiring results such as Sunday’s reverse fixture at Anfield saw Liverpool defeat their arch-rivals 2-0 only to lose at Craven Cottage the following week 2-0. Then there was the Derby success at Goodison Park which then saw Liverpool drop two points at Blackburn.
On Sunday Liverpool will try to get their top four aspirations back on track when they welcome Steve Bruce’s Sunderland to Anfield, who themselves are on a fine run of form having taken seven points from their last nine.
Once that game is concluded the reds will then make trips to Birmingham, Burnley, and Hull – all games they will be expecting to pick up maximum points from. Liverpool’s home games will include Fulham, West Ham and Chelsea.
Fernando Torres scored a great goal on Sunday very early on in the game but from that moment became increasingly frustrated, mainly due to a distinct lack of service provided by both holding midfield players Javier Mascherano and Lucas Leiva. All the teams Liverpool still have to play with the exception of West Ham and Chelsea will be hard to break-down and therefore it would make sense Alberto Aquilani starting the final few games in place of Lucas.
Rafa Benitez will need creative players in order to break the likes of Burnley, Birmingham and Hull down and for all the praise that Rafa gives him; Lucas is simply not a creative player. Therefore it’s crucial that if Liverpool are to pick up maximum points, adventurous players such as Babel and Aquilani play from the start.
Rafa all but guaranteed fourth-place would be Liverpool’s back in December but it’s clear that for this to happen the Liverpool boss may have to start taking a few risks if his guarantee is to be fulfilled.
