Quarter-final second leg (First leg: Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool)
Liverpool and Arsenal meet for the third time in the space of seven days at Anfield tonight and with both of the previous matches ending in 1-1 draws, something has got to give in their Champions League quarter-final second leg.
The sides played out their third 1-1 draw of the season on Saturday. The same result on Tuesday would send the tie to extra time and, potentially, penalties, but Liverpool’s away goal last Wednesday means Arsenal must score at some stage to stand any chance of progressing to teh semi-finals.
Asked if he thinks this latest encounter will be different from the previous matches, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez replied: “Yes, I think so, for two reasons – one is that we are playing at Anfield and that is a massive difference, and the other thing is that they [Arsenal] need to win, so it could be an attacking game.”
A goalless draw would be enough to see Liverpool through on the away goals rule, but the Spaniard believes playing for that result would be too risky tonight.
“We need to win also … we don’t want a 0-0 draw,” he said. “We prefer to score and we prefer to win. We know that Arsenal can score away from home.”
Liverpool will be without Daniel Agger at the back, while wingers Harry Kewell and Jermaine Pennant have groin and hamstring problems, respectively. Benitez is expected to play Fernando Torres up front supported by Dirk Kuyt, although he admits that Peter Crouch has made a persuasive case for a place in the starting line-up alongside the prolific Torres.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he expects the sudden-death nature of tonight’s game to provide some surprises.
“A surprise can always happen, even if you know each other very well,” he said.
“I believe it will be different this time because, at the end of the game, there will be a sanction – we want to stay in this competition but one of us has to move out. So there is more urgency in this game and less observation.”
“They [Liverpool] have the support for them but it’s down to us to keep the crowd quiet, though I accept that’s difficult because here they are a bit louder than anywhere else and, especially, they have more stamina than anywhere else. At the end of the day, it will still be down to how well we play on the pitch,” the Frenchman said.
Arsenal include striker Robin van Persie in their squad, although he limped off with a thigh strain in the first leg, but Eduardo da Silva, Tomas Rosicky, Johan Djourou, Alexandre Song and Bacary Sagna all remain unavailable.
