Liverpool, eliminated from all the cup competitions,
have a simple task between now and the end of the season: to win
their six remaining Premier League games and hope that United, who
have a match in hand as well as a one-point lead, drop enough
points to ensure that the league title goes to Anfield for the
first time since 1990.
In one sense their field is now clear to focus on six Premier
League matches in 39 days, but Liverpool's players struggled to put
such a brave face on matters after their performance in the
stunning 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday yielded a 7-5
aggregate defeat.
“You never know what the effect will be,” Xabi Alonso, the
midfield player, said when asked about the impact of Champions
League elimination on Liverpool's title challenge. “Logically, we
should have more time to rest, but sometimes you prefer to keep
playing games. We are not happy because we are out. It is very
difficult [to win the league], but we have to go and try to win all
our games.”
Even before the first leg against Chelsea, Rafael Benítez, the
Liverpool manager, had taken issue with Ferguson's appraisal of the
tie's potential repercussions, suggesting that the United manager
would prefer the Merseyside club to progress to the semi-finals of
the Champions League because it might affect their title challenge
adversely.
“If we are not in this competition [the Champions League], then
he knows we will be a bigger threat in the Premier League,” Benítez
said on April 7, the day before his team were beaten 3-1 by Chelsea
at Anfield.
What is certain is that Liverpool now have time to relax between
matches and to focus firmly on their Premier League matches. They
will have had a seven-day break by the time they return to action
against Arsenal at Anfield on Tuesday evening and, although they
have another game away to Hull City four days later, their final
four matches are spaced at least six days apart, meaning that
Benítez, a big believer in recovery times, will have every hope
that Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres will regain full fitness
during the run-in.
Speaking before Tuesday's game, in an interview broadcast on Sky
Sports last night, Benítez suggested that his team were fit enough
to maintain the pressure on United between now and the end of the
season. “I think we are strong enough,” Benítez said. “Some players
may be a little bit tired because this week we are playing three
games in a few days, but still we have fresh legs and people who
can play every single game at a high level. It's one game at a
time, keep winning and put Manchester United under pressure.”
Gerrard and Torres are expected to be fit to face Arsenal on
Tuesday, the London club's third game in six days after last
night's Champions League tie against Villarreal and the FA Cup
semi-final against Chelsea on Saturday.
<!-- End of pagination -->
<!--#include
file="m63-article-related-attachements.html"--><!-- BEGIN:
Module - M63 - Article Related Attachements --> <!-- BEGIN:
Comment Teaser Module -->
