Two teams that are unexpectedly struggled lately are now called to improve their results, when Liverpool are hosting Arsenal on Saturday, March 4th. Both teams are struggling to find consistency lately, and as a result, they saw Tottenham and Manchester pass them at the Premier League standings.
Liverpool (14-5-7) are coming off an unexpected defeat, as they were demolished by the renewed Leicester on Monday, by 1-3 on the road. It was a fair result, despite Liverpool’s superiority in most statistical categories, as Leicester were very passionate, and somewhat rejuvenated in their first match since coach Ranieri was sacked. Liverpool were very vulnerable at their opponents’ counter-attacks, as their opponents took a 2 goals lead by the 39th minute. As Liverpool were searching for a goal, their opponents managed to widen their lead at 3 goals at the 60th minute, and all Liverpool could do at that point was to score a consolation goal at the 68th minute. They have now won just 1 of their last 5 league matches (1-3-1), having lost to Leicester, Hull City and Swansea. Of course, the hopes for a title have been long gone, and the best they can do is hope for a top 4 placement that leads to the champions League this season, as they are now sitting at the 5th spot of the Premier League with 49 points.
On the other hand, Arsenal (15-5-5) had an off day last week, as their match against Southampton was postponed due to their opponents’ League Cup final duties. Their last match was an easy 2-0 victory against Sutton that sent them to the FA Cup semi-finals. Arsenal had a much-needed time to let things quiet down, as the fans have been nagging for the team’s unsuccessful results lately. It is still unknown if coach Wenger will remain at the helm after this season. Prior to their victory over Sutton, Arsenal had a string of bad matches with 3 losses and a hard win over Hull City, but the 1-5 loss to Bayern Munich for the Champions League was probably what fired up the protests. They will now host Bayern Munich for the second leg of their match-up on Tuesday, but they will need a huge miracle in order to overturn that deficit.