Footballistically...

Liverpool welcome the 'sexy football' of Arsenal tomorrow in what should be an exciting clash at Anfield. As we all know last time out a certain Andrey Arshavin put 4 past a bewildered Pepe Reina in a game which ended 4-4. As Arsene Wenger might say "footballistically" it should be a good game.

With Liverpool's frequent inconsistency so far this season it is hard to try to predict what might happen in a game such as this. Arsenal at the moment are going pretty well and although they have suffered a big blow in the loss of Robin Van Persie they will still have many attacking options and will no doubt be a problem for the defence and Pepe.

This is a big fixture for Liverpool, just like the Manchester United game, and the Everton one. A win will again send out a positive message but you can almost guarantee after what happened in the last two big fixtures that we will not continue to capitalize into the next game.

With the possibility that Aquilani and Torres could both start tomorrow you would be wrong not to feel slightly hopeful and the home advantage is always a big plus for Liverpool. However after being so susceptible to late goals so far this season you do feel this Arsenal side will be able to make the most of this weakness.

Liverpool will need a 2 goal cushion i think before they can even begin to think about being comfortable. Again we seem to be able to provide the goal part of the scenario, it is the prevention of goals that we have problems with.

Stat Sandwich:
Arsenal go into the game as the leagues top scorers with 38 goals.
The last 4 league matches between the two teams have ended in a draw.
Reina is yet to keep a clean sheet against Arsenal.

Rafa spoke in glowing terms this weekend about his fellow foreign manager Arsene Wenger saying:

"I think it's amazing what he has achieved here in England, especially when you are a foreign manager. It is difficult because you need to understand a lot of things in a different country. He is a great manager."

When looking at Arsene Wenger as a Liverpool fan it is often a very confusing matter when you look at your own manager and the sheer criticism he gets and then look over to The Emirates to find the main man there dodges the majority of criticism from the media and fans. It's situations like this that make you realise patience, loyalty and faith are three vital things that are needed for a "big clubs" manager when they are trying to complete the impossible.

I don't want to get into the debate because i could write a novel but i just felt that point was worth highlighting in the run up to the game.

Liverpool have the options of most players although Ryan Babel and Martin Kelly are still unavailable. Reira will be subject to a late fitness test and Nabil El Zhar picked up and ankle problem so will also most likely miss the Arsenal fixture.

So with all of this in mind we should look forward to an eventful clash tomorrow and hope for a good result although to be perfectly honest I'd quite happily take the draw.