Liverpool are the best team in the EP, possibly top 2-3 in Europe and that goes double offensively where they have an absolutely criminal number of options and should be prosecuted for having so many! They are more vulnerable at the back than the goals against column suggests, which annoys some when I say it, but I can only repeat what I see with my own eyes and I was saying the same about Manchester City last season and even before that and no one is arguing against that now and the truth is that many top teams have a bit of a smoke and mirror feel about their defence, as they spend so long with the ball and on the attack, that they rarely get fully tested. But do when form dips or teams are brave against them and that is, of course, easier said than done. However, since Christmas 2023 Liverpool have played 33 games at Anfield and conceded in 23, winning 26. Ipswich have scored in 7 of 10 away games this season and remain an offensive team, despite struggling after back to back promotions, when they scored a respective 101 and 92 goals and old habits are hard to shake! They have scored twice at Fulham, Tottenham and Brentford (!) and I do not think they will totally go into their shell today and TBH, I doubt that have that option or inclination in their armoury. They have not scored in b2b games for the third time this season, but have yet to go a third and after the last two game dry spell they beat Chelsea 2-0. They have had a week to dwell on that 6-0 loss to Man City, but they had chances early and I do not doubt they will get a couple today. Games are piling up for the Reds and they are heading towards the stage of the season where wins matter, but how they come about less so and this will be their 7th start in 20 days and by mid February, they will have played 13 games in 41 days.

 

I still think that something might give at some stage, they press really hard , have a great work rate and head coach Arne Slot has to have his arm twisted to rotate and as fit as they may be, VVD is 33yo, Mo Salah a year younger and they have missed just 33 minutes of EPL play between them and many others have already played closing in on 30 games this season and all at high energy. We have been here before and recently as,  at the end of January last year Liverpool were also in four competitions and the league table looked a lot like this........

 

2023/24				Overall									Home						Away
				P	W	D	L	F	A	Gdf	Pts	Form	P	W	D	L	F	A	P	W	D	L	F	A
	1		Liverpool	22	15	6	1	51	19	+32	51	WWWW	11	9	2	0	30	9	11	6	4	1	21	10
	2		Manchester City	21	14	4	3	51	24	+27	46	WWWW	10	7	3	0	27	10	11	7	1	3	24	14
	3		Arsenal	22	14	4	4	44	21	+23	46	WWLL	11	8	2	1	27	10	11	6	2	3	17	11

I think that has been forgotten.

 

Liverpool won just the League Cup, they were eliminated from the FA Cup and Europe at the QF stage and finished 7 points behind Arsenal and 9 adrift of City and appeared to be running on empty over the closing months. Watch this space!

 

 

Good luck!