Today's Champions League draw has thrown up a number of interesting matches. Roman Abramovich's Russian Roubles have worked their magic in Nyon once again with Chelsea handed a virtual bye against outsiders Fenerbahce, while UEFA have ensured that Manchester United will not face English opposition en route to the final. Liverpool will be glad to have avoided Manchester United, Barcelona and even Chelsea at this stage, but Arsenal have proved a tough nut to crack for Benitez. With a league game at the Emirates sandwiched between the home and away legs, the two clubs will certainly become well acquainted with each other. It is unlikely that one club will win all three encounters, so Liverpool must seize the initiative in the away leg by getting at least one away goal. Benitez will be desperately hoping that Gerrard and Torres can maintain their rich vein of form for the remainder of the season. There is a feeling that Liverpool are now playing with a lot more freedom, now that the 'distractions' of the Premiership title and FA Cup are gone.Contrary to popular wisdom, I feel that having the home leg second is if anything a slight disadvantage, as the home team can set their stall out to defend the 1st leg without conceeding, knowing that an away goal in the 2nd leg, which tend to be more open, gives them a huge advantage. This was perfectly illustrated by Rangers in disposing of Werder Bremen in the UEFA Cup. Some suggest that Arsenal will tire as the season draws to a conclusion but I fail to see the logic in this - the Gunners are one of the fittest teams in the Premiership. Instead, their big weakness lies in the centre of defence. Senderos often makes Titus Bramble look like Frank Baresi, and Gallas is prone to lapses of concentration, whilst Kolo Toure has been struggling for fitness all season. In addition, their failure to collect 3 points from any of their last 3 league games suggests the wheels on the bandwagon might be starting to loosen.
Liverpool should go into the games with confidence, having ousted the Serie A runaway leaders Inter MIlan in the previous round, and I am optimistic that Rafa will once again come up against his traditional semi final foes, Chelsea, for a place in the final hopefully against Barcelona.
5 comments:
Liverpool will hope that Arsenal reproduce their current league form over the two ties, rather than the form they displayed beating Milan at the San Siro. There's a little matter of a game on Sunday before that though .....
Yeah, maybe we're not out of the title race just yet.
There's no doubt Arsenal play some lovely stuff in midfield, but are they lacking a ruthless streak in the final 3rd? Recent results would suggest this is the case. Adebayor seems to have gone off the boil lately.
I think that's fair criticism. That's been there problem the last few seasons, but with Adebayor sticking the ball in the net earlier this season they seemed to have a solution. Now he's not doing it. Even against Milan it took a long time to break them down.
"maybe we're not out of the title race just yet."
You were saying?
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