Liverpool’s draw with Chelsea at Anfield yesterday felt like a defeat. Liverpool were the better team for the ninety minutes, created more chances, had more of the ball, actually played to win – but lost.

Referee Rob Styles failed to handle the game. Obviously whenever a referee awards a penalty in a game he’s going to get some stick from some fans – but when someone like Andy Gray is actually taking sides for Liverpool in such a situation you really can tell the referee got it wrong.

Often in football we hear a referee being referred to as a “homer”. Fans often claim that’s how refs work when they officiate at big grounds like Anfield and Old Trafford – any cry of “handball” or “offside” from the home fans actually influences the referee to give the decision to the home side. But that’s not seen as much these days. Nowadays we seem to have referees who over-compensate and actually give the benefit of any doubt to the away side.

However it seems that Rob Styles is a different type of referee again. At Old Trafford last week he sent a Reading player off who’d been on the field for something like seven seconds. Still adjusting to the pace of the first game of the season, his first attempt at winning the ball was an attempted block against United’s Evra. Evra quickly got rid of the ball, the Reading player accidentally caught Evra. It wasn’t two-footed, it wasn’t high, it was a genuine attempt to play the ball. Styles just reached for his red card and sent the player off. Up until that time Reading had been holding on for a draw but were capable of actually causing an upset and getting a breakaway goal, like Manchester City did yesterday. Styles brought the chances of that happening to an end, and probably helped Chelsea too in the process, because those tired Reading players had to face Chelsea a few days later. Chelsea won that match.

Before anyone reads suggestions that aren’t here, I don’t believe Styles is being paid by Chelsea to help them, I don’t believe he’s a secret Chelsea fan, I don’t believe his assistance to Chelsea is due to anything more than the fact that he’s not capable of refereeing Premier League matches. He seems happy to hit the headlines, and fails the test of any good referee in that he’s actually noticeable.

In yesterday’s game he was unbelievably inconsistent. Forget the penalty he awarded to Chelsea’s new Arjen Robben, Florent Malouda, who threw himself at Steve Finnan. He was just yards away from the incident; he knew Malouda had jumped from outside the area to collide with Finnan who was inside the area. He didn’t consult his assistant (I don’t think he ever does), he just awarded the penalty. He allowed persistent fouling from some players to go unpunished; he booked others at the first sign of trouble. Jermaine Pennant and Jamie Carragher got booked for dissent – John Terry touched foreheads with Fernando Torres and got a telling-off. He did book Essien for dissent – but then realised he’d already booked Essien so pretended he hadn’t actually made that second booking.

Just before half-time he saw Mikel Obi jump on the ankle of Fernando Torres. Torres needed treatment and struggled in the second half as a result. Styles saw it because he stopped play to allow Torres to get the treatment. Obi wasn’t punished at all for it.

Sky wanted to speak to him after the game. He refused. He knew he’d performed poorly.

Obviously a referee will make mistakes in every game. It’s part and parcel of the game. The players make mistakes too – any fan can look back at defeats or dropped points and point to one of their own players who caused the problem. A striker missing a sitter, a defender giving away a needless penalty, a German keeper making yet another clanger. When that happens the fans are unhappy but feel it’s something that can be fixed. Drop the player in question, or accept the player in question does far more good than he did bad with that one mistake. But at least your manager can sort it out the way he sees fit. There are also those games where a wonder goal loses you the points – again the supporters accept this, as disappointing as it may be, and in some cases with some clubs that wonder goalscorer may be joining your club next transfer window. But when a ref messes up – it’s an awful feeling of injustice.

It’s time that referees were given help. Technology could be brought in for incidents like yesterday’s penalty. If the referee has any feeling it may have been a penalty he should stop the game, get it checked by a video official, then the game restarts. It won’t work straight away, but given time and a fair trial it will work sooner or later. Red cards can be included in the list of incidents that are checked before being finally being decided. In incidents of diving a retrospective ban should be applied to a player found guilty. Timekeeping is another issue which often causes controversy – there is no consistency at all in the game where timekeeping is concerned, maybe it’s time that a separate official took care of that.

Despite all of this, Liverpool learned a valuable lesson yesterday. At least I hope they did. The lesson is that some days you really are up against 11 opponents and the referee. Some days the referee really does seem to have a vendetta against you, or the idea that any 50-50 decisions should go against you. On those days you need to be able to fight back, keep plugging away and make sure the referee can’t continue to ruin your day. Liverpool’s spirits clearly dropped yesterday after that award, and although they did keep plugging away, against an opponent who clearly wanted to escape with that one point, they didn’t have as much fight as they’d had before. Also a one-nil lead isn’t enough; you need to make it a wider gap as quickly as possible.

Liverpool’s next league game is away to Sunderland. It’s the kind of game that Liverpool would drop points in last season, and with former Manchester United skipper Roy Keane as Sunderland boss there’s perhaps more of an edge than there otherwise would be. Liverpool are capable of beating Sunderland by quite some margin, but they’re hurting after their defeat on Saturday. Following that game is the Toulouse Champions League qualifier second leg, arguably the most important game of this half of the season. Liverpool’s away goal is good, but not enough to relax and again Liverpool need to be ready to fight hard to win through the Champions League itself.

And we need to be ready to fight against eleven opponents and the officials, because the game will always have its bad referees, unless we introduce technology.

I was reading Tony Barrett’s blog earlier and he had linked to this moving You Tube video.

It’s from 1989, days after Hillsborough, and features AC Milan fans singing You’ll Never Walk Alone. (more…)

It’s time this blog got some entries again, and in the week that Liverpool FC saw their name dragged through the mud by an organisation fighting to hide their own incompetence, there’s hardly a better time.

UEFA messed up. They shouldn’t have messed up, but they messed up. So they looked at who could be blamed in their place. Liverpool fans were an easy target. First of all as a body of people rather than individuals it was easier to lie about them. William Gaillard said there had been a long list of incidents involving Liverpool fans, no other club’s fan had been involved in as many incidents. So we were then labelled the worst in Europe. That mud stuck.

By the time Michel Platini, Gaillard’s boss, had admitted that Liverpool fans were not, after all, the worst fans in Europe, that mud was not going to come off very easily at all.

Some idiot in the Irish press had a great deal of fun stirring up controversy about the reports. He found great pleasure in upsetting supporters but from what I can gather, this is what he does. Pick a subject, find a controversial angle, rant about it. That kind of thing has been successful worldwide for years. People cringing yet laughing at some comment that crosses as close to the line of what is acceptable as it possibly can. But usually the people who do well in this regard are also funny. People will cringe at controversial comments, but will only laugh at the same time if they are actually funny. The fact this guy is unfunny, is probably the reason why nobody in Britain I’d spoken to had actually heard of him. Anyone any good from the Irish media usually crops up at some point in Britain, especially if they’re as interested in Britain as he seems to be. A quick glance at his columns shows he writes mostly about events in this country, including his side-splitting commentary on the latest Big Brother racism row and what Ken Livingstone’s up to in London. I only heard about the article, with its sub-heading of “Filthy Scouse scum”, because it cropped up on some Liverpool fan sites during the week. The idiot who wrote it was full of mock surprise when he got a deluge of complaints in the days that followed. He did it for publicity - he had a go at Cork in his follow up just to drag up a bit more controversy - and that’s what I suppose he’s getting now by my writing this. Except I’ll not bother to mention his name. If you’re an Irish Red (or an Irish Manc for that matter) reading this, I pity you if you have to put up with this loon on a regular basis. If he’s not already had a go at something that you feel is important give him time, because he will. Controversy aside he has nothing to offer, so you can either ignore him, or sit back and wait for him to go that one step too far in his quest for attention. At least then you’ll have something to laugh about in his writings.

Of course the idiots like him thrive on snippets of information they can twist and selectively ignore components of in order to suit their own agenda. That’s why Gaillard should be sacked. He made claims about Liverpool fans he said were backed up with evidence. Yet nobody, not even the British government who met with UEFA during the week, has seen this evidence. It’s like me saying I’ve got evidence in photographic form of a UEFA spokesman caught in a compromising position with his boss, yet not showing anybody the evidence. Except in that case, if I named the individual, I’d be sued for what I’d said unless I could provide that evidence. Having a go at “Liverpool supporters” is easy, because “Liverpool supporters” are not - as far as I know - legally able to sue UEFA.

I personally doubt this list of misdemeanours actually exists. But if it does, why can’t we see it? And why can’t other teams see what their fans have been accused of?

It wasn’t just obese (I’m told) Irish journalists that wanted to have a go at Liverpool as soon as Gaillard had thrown them a bone. In the British press the BBC had already made big headlines over Gaillard’s comments, letting the story drop down the running order by the time the truth was being told by Platini. A Bluto-lookalike journalist was quick to condemn the club too, taking select comments from the week and having a go at us. No mention in his report of how UEFA had glossed over scooters (as in the petrol powered ones) that get dropped from upper tier to lower tier in Italian grounds, where visiting supporters have to risk being stabbed in the arse as they walk through their cities. No doubt he’ll have been one of those journalists calling for the head of the England manager for playing David Beckham, before calling for the head of the England manager for not playing David Beckham. He’s also probably a little too slow to realise that UEFA’s spokesman not only got Liverpool labelled as the worst in Europe, but that he also said this troublemaking was, effectively, typical of British people. Bluto won’t be going to any big tournaments to cover England games if UEFA carry this line of accusations on. England won’t be there.

One columnist who’s been a little more able to see why this has been badly reported is Liverpool supporter and Mirror columnist Brian Reade. Yes, he’s a Red, he’s going to be looking at the story through red-tinted glasses. But just about all those others who have left negative comments about the Gaillard accusations are almost certainly haters of Liverpool FC - not even neutral.

In his article KOP THIS UEFA . . YOU ARE SPINELESS, Reade says what most Liverpool fans, and many open-minded neutrals, also think:

I’M about to leak to you a report which brands UEFA “the most gutless cowards in Europe”.

It follows an investigation into their attempts to cure football of its most deadly cancer, racism. And it’s a tale of pitiful fines and empty gestures, which have led to a generation of black footballers considering walking off pitches across Europe in protest.

For the report I reexamined the many incidents of racial abuse over the past decade and UEFA’s mealy-mouthed response to them.

I won’t make them public as it’s too sensitive. But I’m willing to if UEFA insist, because that’s called being fair and transparent. If you go on record claiming a group is the worst in Europe and that group asks to see the evidence, you show it them.

So why don’t UEFA do the same by giving Liverpudlians their handily prepared report which proved “the worst fans in Europe” were to blame for the organisational anarchy in Athens?

Is it because such a report might make people ask why Europe’s worst fans have never been censured for their supposed actions?

Is it because any list of presumably petty offences, when compared to killing policemen, burning motorbikes on terraces, attacking referees, turning the air putrid with racism, would prove they aren’t Europe’s worst fans?

Or is it simply vindication of my own report’s conclusion. That UEFA are the most spineless, backsliding, buck-passing organisation in Europe?

Our name is mud thanks to William Gaillard, who thought it was a good idea to tell lies about us in an attempt to cover up UEFA’s errors. Was he acting off his own back or was he acting on orders? And why hasn’t he apologised?

There’s a wonderful article in today’s Times, written by Oliver Kay and well worth a read. It’s hard to find from the home page of the Times Online website, but after reading it in the print version I just had to find it to share it. In particular the first couple of paragraphs drew my attention, but click the link to read the whole lot.

‘Philistines’ converted in the ancient cathedral of the Kop - Times Online

Oliver Kay

The two old men in the directors’ box stood open-mouthed, their eyes glazing over. The Kop in all its glory has the ability to leave even the most hardened visitor spellbound and, just as Roman Abramovich gawped in admiration when his first match as owner of Chelsea took him to Anfield in August 2003, so were George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks gobsmacked by their first taste of the passion they have had the good fortune to buy into.

Two hours later, as the dust settled on a match of high drama and the noise followed the 42,579 crowd on to the streets, Gillett stood alone in the same spot in the directors’ box, watching Liverpool’s players go through their post-match warm-down exercises. Steven Gerrard spotted him and offered a thumbs-up. Gillett smiled down and clasped his hands together almost reverently. “Thank you so much,” he called to the Liverpool captain before telling a handful of reporters near by that the evening had been “like nothing I’ve ever heard or felt before”.

In fact, apart from some droning nonsense by Tony Cascarino (who?) the Times is full of positives about Liverpool’s win last night. There’s another article about it, from Matt Dickinson - Pleasure in the pain on another great night for Benítez:

Liverpool deserved their place in the last eight for the boldness with which they approached both legs

Liverpool’s win, certainly over the 180 minutes, was thoroughly deserved. It’s good to see that our national newspapers are seeing that too, as so often it seems they do little else but criticise.

Dave Maddock’s review of Saturday’s best-forgotten defeat at Goodison is headlined “KICKED IN THE LONG BALLS“, with a sub-heading of “Rafa: We can’t defend against Route One (PSST.. LET’S HOPE YOUR EURO RIVALS PSV EINDHOVEN AREN’T LISTENING..)”

That’s a valid point - surely it’s best not to say what it was that unnerved your side. Rafa has spoken like this before, for example pointing out after defeat by Bolton that we couldn’t handle their “physical” approach to the game (he meant “being kicked off the park like they were playing a Sunday league team” of course but had to hold back). Now Everton have got the better of us with their version of playing to win regardless of how pretty it looks, and Rafa says we can’t manage against teams that hoof the ball all the time.

It’s not totally true of course - we’ve managed to hold on against teams using the long-ball tactic before. For example, every time we’ve beaten Chelsea under that Portuguese bloke we’ve had to face that tactic for the last 20 minutes or so. Even though they’ve sold Huth, they’ll still be looking to Hoof it on Sunday should we be ahead towards the end. It’s about time we beat them in the league too.

When Rafa speaks you need to listen not only to what he says but also to what he doesn’t say. He’s not saying that Liverpool can’t deal with the long ball game, more that they wouldn’t deal with it on Saturday. As a result he wants them to get working on it again. “Early in the game they sent up one or two long balls and we were scared. “We were too nice and you can’t be too nice in games like these. You can’t be scared, you have to go out there and be strong when other teams play long balls.”

Sounds like a few players will be getting long explanations of where they went wrong, at some point this week, if they’ve not done so already. If you work in a factory that makes medicine balls*, don’t be surprised if a Mr Ayesteran appears this week to order two dozen.

In fact the tough Spaniard who is so important to Rafa is likely to work hard on getting those players right mentally for games against the likes of Everton - because Rafa wants the attitude problems sorting: “You have to win the first ball and then you have to win the second ball as well. It is about attitude. It takes time to work on tactical things, but you can change your attitude in one minute if you really want to.”

Attitude is as important in a player as any instinctive skill - and Rafa is determined only to have players involved at the club if their attitude is right.

Liverpool’s players reported back for pre-season in dribs and drabs, and their involvement in pre-season friendlies varied too, depending on how much they’d been involved in the World Cup. Then no sooner had the season started (well, in between the Charity Shield and the first league game) than the players were off with their national sides for friendlies. Two league games were played, then it was off for more international work as the opening Euro2008 qualifiers were played. Now there’s a whole month before the next round of qualifiers, and hopefully a month where Rafa can work on tactics and Pako can work on attitude. Rafa said after Saturday: “We haven’t looked strong defensively this season but then we haven’t had time to work much together because of the internationals.”

What’s also mildly worrying is that he’s not exactly had any more time to work on those players between the derby and this fixture tomorrow. They played Saturday, trained to some extent the day after, flew to Holland today, play tomorrow. No doubt PSV have had similar problems with their players ahead of tomorrow’s game, but it’s something that does need to be looked at.

On the other hand it’s a good sign of how much success we’ve had if we are having these issues. Whilst LFC are trying to make the best of having little time to prepare for a European game, Everton haven’t even got a game.

I’d rather be a Red!

* I’ve no idea if medicine balls are made in factories or if indeed they even grow on trees. I just know that they are heavy and it would make a football seem much less scary to any players with a phobia for a leather footy if they were bombarded with medicine balls.

Congratulations to Arsenal on reaching the Champions League Final. Well, congratulations in part. We got a lot of nice email fans last season after the semi-final and final congratulating us on our Champions League success. A lot of those emails came from Arsenal fans. For those Arsenal fans, and many more like them, we are very pleased. We are also pleased for Arsenal’s captain Thierry Henry. Almost certain to leave the Premiership after the Champions League final, he took time to pay tribute to our captain, straight after last night’s match: “I just want to say to Stevie Gerrard, if he is watching, he has been an inspiration for us all. I really admire the guy.” Gerrard himself had pointed out on Sunday as he picked up his PFA award that his own vote had gone to Henry.

Arsenal and Liverpool are rivals, have been for as long as I can remember, but the two sides have more respect for each other than they do for Chelsea or Manchester United. Would Roy Keane and Patrick Vierra have made compliments like that to each other in those circumstances? Not likely. There is one major problem in the relationship between Arsenal and Liverpool. Not the old rivalries going back to the fifties that might upset some Liverpool fans. Not the north-south divide or the 1989 last-ditch theft by Arsenal of our league title. These things are part and parcel of football and although uncomfortable can be ignored. The problem, right now, with Arsenal from a Liverpool fan’s perspective is their boss. Arsene Wenger is upsetting everyone in his path lately, especially North London’s equivalent of Everton, Tottenham. He’s having a go at everyone, and if Jose Mourinho had kept all of his previous promises open not to speak to the media then Wenger would be getting even more of the headlines. It’s not what he’s saying now though that bothers us as such; it’s what he said last year.

Just before Liverpool played Arsenal in the league at Highbury, Liverpool had qualified for the Champions League final, and Wenger was probably quite jealous. He decided to belittle Liverpool’s achievements by belittling the Champions League itself as a competition. He said that whoever finishes fourth in the league should go into Europe the following year, something I don’t think he’ll be volunteering for this season. Worse than that, in our eyes, he said we were lucky; that us getting to Istanbul was like Millwall getting to the FA Cup Final.

I’m sure he’d have said none of this had he known the way Arsenal’s season was likely to go, but reading these words again made us chuckle to some extent, and made it hard for us to wish Wenger luck in Paris. For the fans and Henry - good luck. For Wenger - you’re being sent to Coventry. The team you compared this year’s finalists to.

Here’s the article that was sent around the world via the press wires last year.

Liverpool ‘lucky’ to be in final: Wenger
May 7, 2005

Arsene Wenger raised the temperature ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Liverpool by saying the Anfield club were “lucky” to be in this season’s Champions League final against AC Milan.

UEFA are set to dash Liverpool’s hopes of defending the trophy should they beat the Italian giants in Istanbul on May 25 but finish outside the Premiership top four.

But Arsenal’s French manager - who has yet to guide the north London club to a European trophy since arriving at Highbury in 1996 - said Liverpool were fortunate to be in this season’s Champions League at all after only finishing fourth in the Premiership last term.

“Normally they should not have played in this cup. They are already lucky to be in it because of the advantage this country has in having four qualifying places,” Wenger said.

“Most countries have only three places, so they already had an advantage in qualifying last season after finishing fourth,” he added on Friday.

Chelsea may have dethroned Arsenal as Premiership champions but the Gunners, like Liverpool - who beat Jose Mourinho’s men, still have European ambitions dependent upon the final few league games of the season.

Wenger’s men are currently second, four points ahead of Manchester United, and if they stay there will go straight into the Champions League proper rather than having to play a qualifying round.

Liverpool, who beat Chelsea in the semi-finals of the Champions League earlier this week, meanwhile are involved in a manic scrap for fourth with city rivals Everton and fellow north-west side Bolton.

Everton currently hold the coveted spot, just three points ahead of Liverpool and four clear of Bolton but they do have a game in hand on both their rivals.

And Wenger was adamant that if Everton finished fourth they should be allowed to compete in the Champions League and not be ‘knocked out’ by Liverpool.

“I feel the rules were clear at the beginning of the season so it was very difficult to change. You cannot knock Everton out of it,” he said.

“You could argue that four places in the Champions League is already quite a big share - and that if you are good enough to win the Champions League, you should be in the top four of your country.

“Normally I’d agree with the premise that if you win the cup you should be allowed to defend it but changing the rules for next season, so the winners qualify, would perhaps be the best solution.”

He added: “If you call it the Champions League, basically you should only have the league champions there.”

Wenger cited Barcelona, only beaten in the quarter-finals by Chelsea after the referee missed a foul by Ricardo Carvalho on keeper Victor Valdes in the build-up to the Blues’ winning goal, as the best side in Europe this season.

And he said Arsenal’s last 16 conquerors, Bayern Munich, as the “best European team we have played in the past four or five years”.

Wenger said the Champions League, which in the days of the European Cup was restricted to the holders and the continent’s national champions alone, was becoming more of a lottery than a test of excellence.

His view appeared to be backed up by the fact that last season underdogs Porto and Monaco contested the Champions League with Porto, then managed by current Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, winning.

Meanwhile Liverpool, despite being 33 points behind Chelsea in the league, now find themselves in the final of Europe’s leading club football tournament.

Wenger praised Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez but said nothing had altered his view that the Premier League had to be a priority for a leading English club.

“The championship has to be our absolute priority as you cannot make the Champions League as the priority,” he insisted.

“Why would we change our style? Liverpool were one minute away from going out (before Steven Gerrard’s winner against Olympiakos) and who knows if the ball was in or not against Chelsea?

“Liverpool deserve a lot of credit and have shown a lot of courage, but the championship is the only competition where the quality of the team is reflected after 38 games.

“The Champions League has now completely become a cup competition (without a second group stage),” added Wenger, whose side face holders United in the FA Cup final on May 21.

“Everybody can win it. Last year you had Porto and Monaco. Every year you will have two different teams in the final because it is so open.

“It’s like last year, when Millwall were in the FA Cup final. Next year, you could have Coventry.

“Liverpool deserve all the congratulations but it’s difficult to draw the conclusion that they are dominating European football.”

United’s win over Spurs means that Liverpool are now guaranteed third place. The concerns that Arsenal could win the Champions League and take away the right of the fourth-placed team to go into the qualifiers is no longer a concern of ours. However the three points for the Mancs mean we have a much taller order on our hands if we are to take second place.

The Spurs game was one of two where we thought United might slip up, with their clash over Chelsea 12 days later the next problem for them. That didn’t happen, so things are just that bit simpler now. Liverpool can’t afford to lose any of their remaining games. Chelsea have to beat United. A win from Chelsea would leave things possibly going to the wire.

A win for Chelsea would, by the time Liverpool kick off against Aston Villa at Anfield half an hour later, leave the Reds ready to try and take another three points and so leave it all to the last game of the season. Assuming the Reds have taken the six poinst available from West Ham and Villa, and United had dropped those three, the two sides would be level on points, with United having a game in hand.

Even a win for United against ex-coach Steve McLaren’s Middlesborough would not quite be enough when the two sides meet on May 1st, although it in reality would be enough given the goal difference the Reds and the Mancs have. It’s an outside hope, but a win from McLaren’s lot would leave it all hinging on the last day’s football.

That last day, where all games kick off at the same time, sees United host Charlton and Liverpool travel south to relegation-threatened Portsmouth. It does look like the relegation battle is going to go down to the wire too, so no favours to come from Jamie Redknapp’s dad. On that day, assuming results have gone Liverpool’s way, will be a lot of tension as the results from Old Trafford and Fratton Park are relayed back and forth. Next season though, we don’t want to battling for 2nd - we want our title back.

Remaining fixtures:
Wed 26 Apr, West Ham v Liverpool, 19:45
Sat 29 Apr, Chelsea v Man Utd, 12:30 and Liverpool v Aston Villa, 15:00
Mon 01 May, Man Utd v Middlesbrough, 20:00
Sun 07 May, Man Utd v Charlton, 15:00 and Portsmouth v Liverpool, 15:00

This time last season Liverpool were trying to get themselves into fourth place in the league as a disappointing league season came towards its conclusion. In the end they had to settle for fifth, and UEFA had to change the rules because of the FA’s refusal to stick to the spirit of the Champions League rules. The rules were changed to make sure stubborn FAs can’t do that again in the future.

This season Liverpool still have that aim to try and finish fourth or higher in the league, and that has now been attained. The lowest Liverpool can now finish after yesterday’s 1-0 win over Blackburn is 4th. For that to happen, Spurs need to win all their games, with Liverpool losing all theirs. This would leave the two sides level on points, so this amazing sequence of results would need to also see the gap in goal difference between the two sides reduced sufficiently in the process. Liverpool are currently 11 goals better off in that respect.

Liverpool have achieved that goal of finishing at least fourth now, an improvement on last season, but it might not be enough. If the above scenario happens and the Reds do finish in fourth, Arsenal will could scupper Liverpool’s hopes of Champions League football in season 2006/07. The new rules mean that if Arsenal won the competition they would go into next season’s group stages, with the league’s fourth-placed team taking a UEFA Cup place instead. So it’s important the Reds get at least one point from their last three games - then it can remain a North London matter over who gets the fourth English place in the competition next season.

The Reds want more than that though. Although the current holders of the European Cup are in charge of their own destiny in terms of ensuring at least a place in the qualifying stages next season, they have a chance of getting into the group stages if Manchester United slip up enough in their last four games. Liverpool are six points and nine goals behind United in the league table. If Liverpool won all of their remaining three games they’d have 82 points, six more than United have currently. Two wins from four from United would ensure Liverpool could only catch them if they reduced the goal difference gap, and that’s not really likely to happen. One win and three draws would be much the same.  So Liverpool’s outside chance of finishing second depends on United winning no more than one of their remaining four games, and losing at least one of the others. Seems unlikely.

At least it seems unlikely until you look at the remaining fixtures for United. Their next two fixtures are potentially their hardest two of what they’ve got left. First of all they are away to Tottenham today, and Tottenham will be desperate to try and get three points to put the pressure on Liverpool for third place, and to keep Arsenal from catching them in fourth place. United then get to rest for twelve days, a gap that could be a help or a hindrance depending on how things go. The next game is also away, against Chelsea. By then Chelsea will be confirmed Champions and in a mood to celebrate - which could mean either a lot of rested players and a half-hearted performance, or a desire to prove to United that they didn’t win the league just by cheating. In between those two fixtures Liverpool will have paid a visit to West Ham an evening kick-off in the city they never seem to do well in.

By the time Liverpool kick off against Aston Villa at Anfield half an hour after the Chelsea-United game has ended they’ll have a pretty good idea one way or another whether they’ve any hopes left of grabbing second place. By then they’ll have played Chelsea themselves in the FA Cup semi-final and will know whether a trip to Cardiff is on. If it is then Villa will have a game on their hands as the Reds players stake a claim for a cup final place. If things have also gone Liverpool’s way in the league and United have only managed a point from those two difficult games, with the Reds picking up six from their two games, then Liverpool would be in second, two points above United. Trouble is, Liverpool would have played one more game than United by then.

United’s extra game comes on May Day against Middlesborough. Steve McClaren’s team are pretty unpredictable, and McLaren will be relishing playing against his old boss, possibly for the last time if he does get that England job. Another draw in that game would see the table on the final day of the season with Liverpool on 79 in second and United on 78 in third. Then it all goes down to those final games. Charlton visit Old Trafford, where another England candidate will be trying to show his credentials off. Liverpool travel south to one of their bogey teams, Portsmouth. With Pompey still trying to stave off relegation and Harry Redknapp trying to avoid making it two seasons in a row that he’s sent a team down, Liverpool will have the toughest game of what they have left. It would be a dream for Sky Television if it went down to the wire, but a nightmare for the coronary departments of the hospitals in the North West.

So Liverpool have got a chance of that second place. If they could then follow that with an FA Cup final win (assuming they can get past Chelsea in the semis first) then it will bring to an end in style a season that started way back in July when the Reds played in the first qualifying round of the Champions League. It would also mean they needn’t worry about any qualifying rounds for the Champions League next season.

Remaining fixtures:
Mon 17 Apr, Tottenham v Man Utd, 12:45
Wed 26 Apr, West Ham v Liverpool, 19:45
Sat 29 Apr, Chelsea v Man Utd, 12:30 and Liverpool v Aston Villa, 15:00
Mon 01 May, Man Utd v Middlesbrough, 20:00
Sun 07 May, Man Utd v Charlton, 15:00 and Portsmouth v Liverpool, 15:00

BBC SPORT - Portsmouth 1-1 Arsenal Arsenal could only manage a draw with Pompey tonight, which means that they now can’t finish above Liverpool in the league. Liverpool  are on 70 points, the most Arsenal can now get it 69. The lowest the Reds can now finish in the league is 4th. So we’ve qualified for the Champions League!

Not quite.

First of all, Arsenal are still in the Champions League. In the semis. They could end up in the final, then they could win it. If all of those ifs happen then they get a spot in next season’s CL. If they finish 5th in the league then they get the place that would otherwise have gone to the team in 4th.

At the moment Spurs are on 58 points to Liverpool’s 70. The most points they can get is 73.  If Liverpool lose all their games and Spurs win all theirs then Liverpool will finish 4th. What if Liverpool win one game though, with Spurs winning all theirs. Both teams then end the season on 73 points. Liverpool v Spurs right now in goal-difference terms is 26-15 in the Reds’ favour. Nine the difference. Certainly possible for that to be eaten up by five Spurs victories and three Liverpool defeats. So Liverpool could easily end up in fourth place, unless they get four points from those last four games.

We don’t actually think Arsenal will win the Champions League. After Wenger said Liverpool’s win last season was like Millwall winning the FA Cup we don’t think they deserve it. If he reconsiders those comments - after they’ve gone out - then we’ll reconsider our view on the matter.

We don’t actually think Spurs will win all five of their remaining fixtures. Arsenal will still want to aim for fourth place, and they face Spurs in one of their remaining fixtures.

We don’t actually think Liverpool will lose three of the last four games heavily enough to end up in fourth place on goal difference. We certainly don’t think they’ll lose all four.

All in all, we expect Liverpool to finish at least third, maybe even second. We certainly expect the Reds to be playing in the Champions League qualifiers next season at the very least. We just wish results would quickly go our way so the calculators can go away again.