Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
London and Merseyside go head to head twice this afternoon, one of the pairings is at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea and Everton and the other one takes place at Anfield as Liverpool play host to Arsenal, as of late this is a fixture that has provided goals and the hope at least from a neutral point of view is that there will be more of the same.
The last five matches between the two clubs has provided us with 22 goals, that is 4.4 goals a game. What is more impressive though is that one of them was a stalemate so when in the four games in which there have actually been goals we have seen an average of 5.5 goals per game.
And with Liverpool’s imbalance between attack and defence I would not be surprised if we saw an abundance of goals this afternoon. Liverpool’s Champions League win over Hoffenheim on Tuesday would have been perfect evidence of that.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were scintillating in attack but still showing signs of culpability in defence as they played out an entertaining 4-2 win in front of their own fans. It seems to be as good as they are going forward there will be question asked of their back line. Questions that if they do not bring in defensive personnel before the end of the month will then repeatedly be asked for the rest of the season.
Those same questions could well be asked of Arsenal as although they won their opening fixture of the season against Leicester on the very first evening of the season they did score three goals at home in the process, a win that perhaps papered over the cracks.
Those cracks would become a lot wider last Saturday when they traveled to Stoke and came away empty handed thanks to debutant Jese’s first ever goal for his new club. A case of one step forward and two steps back for Arsene Wenger’s men.
One key man who has been absent for those opening fixtures is Alexis Sanchez and although he will do very little to help the clubs defensive plight he will be able to add an additional element to Arsenal’s attack which was perhaps unlucky not to get on the scoresheet last week.
Alexander Lacazette was foiled in his bid to score for the second successive game as his effort was ruled out for offside by the most marginal of calls, whether the Assistant Referee guessed that decision or not can be argued but ultimately the goal was chalked off.
The last time Arsenal came to Liverpool they were handed a 3-1 defeat, a result which ultimately would cost them 4th place in the league at the hands of the very club they lost to. Alexis Sanchez was somewhat controversially left on the bench and played nothing more than a bit part role.
Both teams have an abundance of attacking talent but it seems to be at the expense of a solid defence, therefore I would be very surprised if this one ends in a clean sheet. The big question though is who will come out on top by the end of the game.
Liverpool’s extra outing may well see them become a bit more leggy towards the end of proceedings and that may well give Arsenal the slight advantage that said though I think Jurgen Klopp’s men will be buoyed by victory on Tuesday night and that coupled with home advantage will see them nick it in my opinion.
