Once More Unto The Breach, Dear Friends.

by KESTER WISEMAN This evening Arsenal will host Liverpool in a Premier League match that could define their season. Hang on a moment, haven’t we been here before?

On January 27th, Arsene Wenger’s side travelled to Villa Park to begin a series of matches that many believed would be pivotal to their chances of regaining the crown that they won in almost flawless in 2003-04.  Flash forward just 13 days and talk is not of a fourth Premiership triumph, but of consolidating third place and the Champions League qualification with which it has become synonymous. I don’t need to tell you how said series of matches played out.

Worryingly for Arsenal, the big games just keep on coming. This seasons record against the traditional top four (Played 5, Won 1, Lost 4) makes for horrible reading, and certainly justifies the relentless calls for Wenger to make reinforcements. More encouraging is the fact that the solitary victory came via a piece of Andrey Arshavin magic against tonight’s opponents.

Since his arrival in English football the Russian has been to Rafa Benitez what Didier Drogba is to Arsene Wenger. In April he became the first player to score four goals in a league game at Anfield since Dennis Westcott in 1947, and he followed that up with a sublime finish as Arsenal battled back from 1-0 down to triumph earlier this season.

The return to match fitness of Nicklas Bendtner should see the diminutive fans’ favourite revert to his more typical position on the left of the forward three at the Emirates after an ineffectual spell of games at the head of the trio. Expect to see Theo Walcott make way. Otherwise, and in spite of back to back losses, Wenger is unlikely to tinker with his starting eleven.

The misfiring forwards have been exempt from the brunt of the criticism due to some catastrophic defending in each of the last two matches. Both Chelsea and Man Utd were able to capitalise after Arsenal had committed bodies forwards in search of goals. Wenger has refused to criticise individuals publicly, instead challenging his players to start righting their wrongs immediately.

Liverpool visit the Emirates behind only Chelsea and Man Utd in the form table. That said they have drawn their last two matches away from home (Stoke and Wolves), and haven’t beaten Arsenal in the league in North London since the days of Titi Camara in 1999. The resurgent reds will be without the suspended Sotirios Kyrgiakos, and the ill Alberto Aquilani, as well as the longer term absentees Fernando Torres, Glen Johnson and Yossi Benayoun.

Three points would create a welcome buffer between the Gunners and Liverpool, and give the squad a much needed boost ahead of the first leg of the Champions League double header against Porto.{jcomments on}