The only good news for Liverpool these days is they're still considered one quarter of the Big Four.All hope is now lost, as well as most of their games after they became a high-profile FA Cup casualty on Tuesday. Liverpool fans might point out that three seasons ago the team finished third in the Premier League, ahead of Arsenal, despite losing TEN matches. Ten matches lost in a season! Liverpool fans would call that unacceptable. Pompey fans would call it autumn. The fact is Liverpool have lost 10 of their last 20 matches.
Optimism is in short supply at Anfield these days, as are points. Liverpool fans and players usually see their glass as half-full, so do Liverpool's burglars.
I've been saying all season Liverpool wouldn't finish in the top four and as of next season nobody would take it for granted the once great Reds will even be considered one of the Big Four.
You'd think the worst outcome in their third-round replay against Reading would be the humiliating exit at the hands of the Championship strugglers. What actually transpired was worse – the humiliating exit at the hands of the Championship strugglers in addition to losing their three most effective players this season in Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun.
Usually Torres and Gerrard are exempt from blame but their performances have been mystifyingly subdued in recent weeks, perhaps because they are tired of carrying injuries or simply because they are tired of carrying the team.
The biggest mystery though has been Liverpool's startling transformation in form from last year's impressive tour de force to this season's total farce. This season's flops are essentially the same team that finished second last year minus the mercurial Xabi Alonso and with the addition of Glen Johnson and Alberto Aquilani.
The jury is still out on the slender Italian but those quick to judge won't have been impressed with what they've seen thus far. He lacks pace, scoring ability (9 goals in 102 games for Roma) and strength. Early indications would suggest his £20 million price tag represents a great deal – for Roma.
Failure to finish in the top four would almost certainly mean slapping Gerrard and Torres on the transfer list. The Spaniard, great player though he is, is awfully susceptible to injury.
Earlier in the season Torres spoke at length about his love affair with Liverpool, how he thought it was a hoax call when Rafa Benitez first contacted him, and how on a secret visit to the city he spent two days in an apartment packed with books and DVDs about the club, leaving only to take a medical. When he got back they'd gone.
"I will never forget a man crossing the street I met a short time after I got there," said Torres. "He said to me that he worked all week just to think of the pleasure that would be waiting for him at the stadium." You can have 100-1 that it was Lucas Leiva and 1-2 it was the burglar.
Torres has pleaded to the chairmen for further investment while a growing band of former players are appealing for them to relieve Benitez of his duties.
The beleaguered boss is as short as 6-1 with Hills to be out of his job by midnight Sunday and 5-2 to be the next Premier manager to be axed (from 12-1). Kop legend Kenny Dalglish is the 2-1 favourite to replace him. Whoever does will have a hell of a job on their hands and Rafa and his enormous backroom staff will have one hell of a payout.
Worryingly for Benitez the other strikers in his squad are David Ngog, Nabil El Zhar, Daniel Pacheco and Nathan Eccleston.
Owen Coyle's first two games in charge as newly installed Bolton coach involve a tricky double header against Arsenal.
The Gunners historically struggle against the Wanderers with the physical prowess of veteran striker Kevin Davies causing Arsenal's backline all sorts of problems.
Arsene Wenger's men will have their creative captain Cesc Fabregas restored to their side after he recovered from a hamstring strain. Bolton possess the worst home defensive record in the division (21 goals allowed) while Arsenal are the highest away scorers (23 goals scored). The two bets I fancy are three or more goals in the match (4-5 with BlueSq) and Arsenal to win, which is a stand out 8-13 with Ladbrokes.
Top Tips: Arsenal to beat Bolton (8-13 with Ladbrokes) and more than three goals in the game (4-5 with Blue Sq)
