please log in to view this image Vs please log in to view this image Hello and welcome to the official Not606 match thread for Saturday's Premier League encounter between Liverpool & Arsenal. The game is scheduled to be played at 12.45PM on Saturday 3rd of March 2012. It will be available on Sky Sports 2 and BBC Radio Five Live will have the radio rights to the game. Preview. Both Liverpool & Arsenal go into this game needing the three points to continue the push for a Champions League spot. With the business-end of the season now upon us, both sides need to put a winning run together in the league to get that Champions League spot and everything that comes with it. The home side, Liverpool, currently sit 7th in the Premier League and are 7 points off a Champions League place with a game in hand. Liverpool's Premier League season so far has been consistently inconsistent. With Liverpool's owners allowing manager Kenny Dalglish to purchase seven players in the summer, hopes were high for a strong push back into the top 4. This is still possible but Liverpool will need to a significant improvement on the home form. As I write this, Liverpool are still unbeaten at home this season. Sounds good but in the 12 games Liverpool have played at Anfield, we have only won 4. That's 4 wins and 8 draws in the league so far this season. Not the sort of home form that a side chasing a top 4 needs and isn't good enough. Draws at home against Swansea, Blackburn, Norwich City are all disappointing because of the amount of chances created and not put away. The chance conversion rate is, to put it bluntly, ****e. The worst in the league and if this doesn't improve, we will find it very difficult to get that fourth place. However, the recent form has started to improve. The past two games have resulted in Liverpool wins. (The 6-1 win over Brighton in the F.A Cup & the penalty shoot-out victory over Cardiff in the Carling Cup final) It's the last result which could give Liverpool a boost in the battle for top 4. Winning a cup for the first time in 6 years could give Liverpool the impetus to string a good set of results. Yes, people will say that 'you struggled to beat Cardiff' but as i'm sure the Arsenal fans will tell us, losing a final can have a dramatic impact on the rest of the season. Could the Carling Cup victory give Liverpool the edge? We'll have to wait and see but it could be massive. The away side, Arsenal, have also had a consistently inconsistent season. A side which has been in the Champions League places for 14 years, this season has been a struggle and Arsenal fans are concerned that this could be the season they fall out of those positions. Currently sitting in 4th with the same amount of points and goal difference as London rivals Chelsea, this does look decent. However, they sit 7 points behind North London rivals Spurs and for every good result, they have had a poor result. It's been a season many Arsenal fans won't forget in a long time. They started the season very poorly with just the 1 point from the first three games. A 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool was followed by the game every single Arsenal fan wants erased from the club's history books- That 8-2 loss at Manchester United. Things didn't get any better with a 4-3 to Blackburn Rovers. However, Arsenal looked like they had turned a corner and started churning out results at difficult places. This put Arsenal back into the race for fourth but a series of poor results was just around the corner. Poor result against Swansea, Sunderland in the F.A Cup and A.C Milan in the Champions League have meant that Arsenal look like extending their run without a trophy. Despite one of the most turbulent seasons in their recent history, Arsenal are still bang in the hunt for fourth place. And a massive part of that goes down to RVP. Robin Van Persie has had an amazing year with him banging in the goals left, right and centre. If he stays fit and keeps banging in the goals, he can fire them to 4th place. Arsenal need to keep him if they are to progress in the coming seasons. Both sides go into this crucial Premier League game with good results behind them. As i've already stated, Liverpool's last game was that penalty shoot-out win over Cardiff which gave them the Carling Cup and Arsenal produced a stunning comeback in the North London derby. 2-0 down to Spurs, they went on the rampage and won an amazing game 5-2. With Liverpool not being able to finish teams off at home and Arsenal average away from the Emirates, the smart money would be a draw. Not good enough for either side in my opinion. Both need a win. Both will have to go for the three points. Should make for another classic encounter! Injury News. Liverpool. Steven Gerrard: Hamstring Injury. Glen Johnson: Hamstring Injury. Daniel Agger: Fractured Rib. Lucas Leiva: ACL Knee Injury. Arsenal. Aaron Ramsey- Ankle/Foot Injury. Sebastien Squillaci- Groin Strain. Francis Coqeulin- Hamstring Injury. Per Mertesacker- Ankle/Foot Injury. Emmanuel Frimpong- ACL Knee Injury. Andre Santos- Sprained Ankle. Jack Wilshere- Ankle/Foot Injury. Injury news comes from http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php. If this news in incorrect, please inform me via a post in this thread and I will change it. Liverpool 1 - 2 Arsenal Goalscorers: Liverpool... Laurent Koscielny Own Goal: 23rd minute. Arsenal... Robin Van Persie: 31st minute. Liverpool... Robin Van Persie: 91st minute. Liverpool: Reina Kelly Skrtel Carragher Enrique Henderson Adam Bellamy Kuyt Suarez Carroll SUBS: Doni Flanagan Coates Spearing Shelvey Maxi Downing Stewart Downing coming off and Craig Bellamy is on: 88th minute. Jay Spearing coming off and Andy Carroll is on: 93rd minute. Arsenal: Szczesny Sagna Koscielny Vermaelen Gibbs Oxlade-Chamberlain Song Walcott Rosicky Gervinho Van Persie SUBS: Fabianski Arteta Diaby Jenkinson Benayoun Chamakh Miquel Mikel Arteta coming off and Abou Diaby is on: 53rd minute. Yossi Benayoun coming off and Gervinho is on: 74th minute. Abou Diaby coming off and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is on: 80th minute. YNWA.
HOPEFULLY, we will gain momentum from the great result last Sunday and win here. Gerrard's injury will boost our chances. (Not that I'm happy he's injured, top player)
Worried about this one, unless we win we won't be playing CL Football next season imo. So in good Liverpool tradition I think we will win and then lose to Sunderland.
He pulled out of the England squad with a hamstring problem and I haven't read anything about his injury yet so I assume he's a doubt for Saturday's game.
Basically you never know which team will turn up with either the Reds or Goons. Its unfortunate in a way that Arsenals Euro mauling will mean their focus is back on league position but if we can get a result it'll be massive. We should definately play Carroll...just get him to sit on RVP for 90 mins literally
Well on the other thread, i had it down as a 1-1 draw, but after a minor disagreement with Ninja Skrtel, i settled on Liverpool 0 - Arsenal 18.
Evening fu.kers. Uncustomary to find me on here at this time of night. Working from home tomorrow Anyway, quality as usual Chris. Eternally indebted, young man. Gooners
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/jordan-v-ox-in-keepy-uppys jordan henderson ends the myth of the ox here... 148 v 138 keepies ups of a tennis ball in some hotel bar on u21 duty... how boring are these young lads! if that was gazza or even rio and terry there'd be a bird "roasting" in the corner.. a dentist chair reconstruction hendo is a decent kid no question.
Anyone remember the film ID? ****in' Gooners! [video=youtube;Fc3z2h29dmI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc3z2h29dmI[/video]
Hope we smash them. We probably won't though, we'll dominate the actual game but we'll struggle to finish our chances and Van Persie will score from Arsenal's only attack of the game.
Well I hope we dont make it easy for pool to score. In terms of possession Liverpool have been great at home, and if we dont get hold of the ball i dont back us to keep pool out. We just better as fired up for this as pool are, any ideas whos the ref?
Just like you had one outstanding game against Spurs we had an off day against Cardiff(the match stats show we battered Cardiff on chances though). Our defence is better than yours but your attack puts more chances away than ours. Draw. 1-1.
Congrats you beat a Championship team on penos On a serious note i think it'll be a cracking 2-3 to the Arsenal game
