Liverpool’s match with Arsenal is unlikely to affect the title race; Chelsea and Manchester United have far more options
The Premier League will reverberate this weekend to a thunderous collision on Merseyside, yet those at the top will register the claps only as distant rumblings. Liverpool and Arsenal had hoped for so much more than also-ran status this season but, even before Christmas, theirs is a distant pursuit. Arsène Wenger spoke yesterday of his team’s “fate” depending on victory at Anfield. Already there is a desperate feel to the chase.
The gap from Chelsea at the top stands this morning at eight points for Arsenal and 12 for Liverpool, languishing in seventh. The leaders and the champions, Manchester United, have awkward but winnable home games today that could see them widen the divide from the other members of the perceived elite quartet prior to tomorrow afternoon’s kick-off. Wenger and Rafael Benítez must wonder how it came to this.
Publicly they remain defiant. Wenger maintained that the title will be won with “between 78 and 83 points”, potentially the lowest tally since Arsenal claimed the league in 1998. The days of the champions losing only once, or not at all, have gone. “There are no teams of the quality [of Arsenal's Invincibles or Chelsea under Jose Mourinho],” he said. “When Chelsea beat us I said they’d drop points and everyone said, ‘This guy has completely lost the plot.’ One week later they lost at Manchester City. They will lose more, don’t worry.”
What is less certain is whether Arsenal or Liverpool are equipped to take advantage. The familiar criticism aimed at Wenger and Benítez is that their sides lack a Plan B when contests, such as Arsenal’s home drubbing by Chelsea, run away from them. The term Plan B conjures images of long-ball football with which neither of these sides would feel comfortable. Indeed, the nearest any of the elite four come to the longer game would be Petr Cech’s occasional punts towards Didier Drogba – an exceptional player who allies pace and power, height and aggression – to ruffle centre-halves in the air. Even they consider that a shock tactic.
Arsenal’s midfield boasts too much quality to be bypassed. Liverpool, particularly when Alberto Aquilani is fit and featuring, will move the ball quicker in short, sharp bursts over the turf – as they did for a while against Fiorentina in midweek – to liberate their greatest assets, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. Without the Italian their build-up is prone to be stodgy with Gerrard, who has managed only four goals this term (two of which were penalties), too often crowded out by opponents granted time to regroup.
Yet if Arsenal and Liverpool are comfortable in their particular styles of play, they lack depth of variety in personnel. Where United boast three distinct kinds of forward in Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney, Arsenal can point only to Robin Van Persie for established goalscoring prowess alongside a number of diminutive, tricky attackers in the mould of Andrey Arshavin. The champions can employ out-and-out wingers and stretch the play, or opt for massed midfield aggression as they did recently at Stamford Bridge, and boast the experience of Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes to squeeze them out of tricky situations.
Chelsea have similarly impressive options. Carlo Ancelotti’s diamond can feature one of four – Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Deco, even Gaël Kakuta – at its tip, or real width in Florent Malouda and Cole. Their lack of a third pedigree forward may be addressed next month and, if matters really become desperate, there is always the tried and tested option of moving Michael Essien, when fit, to right-back to maraud up the flank.
Liverpool and Arsenal’s alternatives are all too similar, their game-plans rather too rigid as injuries deprive their squad of key players. Wenger has lost his three tallest forward-thinkers to injury – Van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner and Abou Diaby – and, at times, Benítez has been stripped of his best two attackers. The voids have not been filled effectively. “Last season we were playing 4-2-3-1 and scored more than anyone in the division,” said Benítez. “We started this season scoring a lot of goals but conceding more. People said we had to do better in defence. Then we keep three clean sheets and people say we have to score more goals.
“How do you win? Balance, defending well and attacking well as we did in the past. But it is not easy when you have to change your defenders in every single game and you cannot play your best attackers. When everyone is available we will be much better.” By then, Liverpool’s chance of a first league title since 1990 will surely have gone, if it has not already.
Wenger would point to similar handicaps with injuries to his only natural centre-forwards as he sticks to a 4-3-3 that had prompted an early avalanche of goals. Cesc Fábregas called for a “different kind of option” up front last week to complement the numerous players Arsenal possess capable of dribbling dangerously around the penalty area. His manager readily agreed with the sentiment but would argue the solutions are currently in the treatment room. “We have money to spend but we haven’t found what we want,” Wenger said. “Ideally, I’d just want our injured players back. I would not buy any players if we had no injuries. The real question is: can we win as we are now? Yes we can.”
Yet for all that Benítez and Wenger passionately believe that, at full strength, their teams could win the Premier League, the reality remains that their squads do not have the variety or depth of experience of the top two. In that context, their pursuit might feel forlorn. “You fight against a team like Chelsea who can afford to lose £150m,” added Wenger. “We have to fight them and beat them while making money ourselves.
“Even so I am convinced that my team have the physical and mental qualities to cope at this level. We scored an own- goal and lost at United and nothing had indicated we would lose that game [up to then]. Against Chelsea for 40 minutes I never felt we would lose. Never. Now we want to show that those were two accidents. And we know our fate depends on that.”
Premier LeagueArsenalLiverpoolArsène WengerRafael BenítezDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk
