Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Another full weekend of Premier League action kicks off this weekend and firstly we go to Anfield as Liverpool play host to Swansea this Lunchtime. With Jurgen Klopp’s side drawing their last two matches they have slipped to third in the table and lost further ground on leaders Chelsea, but can they return to winning ways Today?
Their run of games without a win was bought to an end in Midweek as they edged past League Two side Plymouth in their F.A. Cup Third Round Replay, that victory at Home Park on Wednesday bought to an end a run of four games without a win.
But it’s the league where a lack of success has proved the most costly as successive draws with Sunderland and then Manchester United now sees The Reds 7 points behind Chelsea and also now overtaken by Tottenham thanks to goal difference.
Sunday’s clash of the titans at Old Trafford saw Liverpool ahead after Paul Pogba’s best efforts to dab the ball but a late Zlatan Ibrahimovic equaliser meant that both sides have to make do with a share of the points, a result that in hindsight did either side any real favours.
But with Liverpool playing before both Tottenham and Chelsea this weekend they have a chance to at least put some pressure on their nearest rivals with a win at Anfield as Paul Clement’s Swansea side make the trip up from South Wales.
It was not a particularly good home managerial debut for Clement as he saw his Swansea side comfortably beaten by Arsenal last Saturday. Arsene Wenger’s side ran out 4-0 winners at The Liberty Stadium and it shows that the former Bayern Munich assistant manager still has a lot to do if he is to turn Swansea’s fortunes around.
To be fair to Clement, the Fixture Computer has not been too kind what with serving up fixtures against Arsenal and Liverpool in successive weeks. Perhaps these could be viewed as free hits for Swansea due to the fact that no-one gives them a chance of winning but with games running out they need to be fighting for points at every opportunity.
The Swans were busy in the transfer market earlier in the week as Martin Olsson made the move from Norwich to Swansea for £4m. With Neil Taylor out with a fractured cheekbone, the left back area was one that needed to be filled and the Swedish international will fill the void and make his debut in a few hours time.
Can Swansea get anything out of this one, well they are going to have their work cut out in which to do so. Liverpool have got out of their rut of results and will be looking to return to winning ways in the league as they can ill afford to give up any more ground in the title race.
Liverpool will be the heavy bookmakers favourites and you would have to say rightly so. I can’t see this one being a coupon buster even if people say ‘never bet on the lunchtime fixture’ I reckon it’s a routine win for Liverpool as they cut the gap to 4 points for 24 hours at least.
And with that win it will set up Liverpool vs Chelsea on January 31st very nicely, they will then just have to hope that Marco Silva can produce some heroics at Stamford Bridge tomorrow to make that potential top of the table clash even more interesting. A home win for me this Lunchtime.
