Premier League Gameweek 35-37 + FA Cup semis

DevilRed said:
Almost certain at this stage. Another opponent with nothing to play for on the last day.
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Eh? Wolves are one point in front of Spurs and 2 ahead of Sheffield United who have a game in hand. That's not counting Arsenal who are possibly in the mix too and only 3 points behind if they beat Liverpool today. If they don't keep collecting points, that's no Europa League for them next season.
 
We saw with how Southampton have scrapped for their lives against City and Utd that it doesn't always matter if a team has nothing to play for.

Hell look at Crystal Palace against Chelsea last week.
 
Surprised Klopp has yet to wrap up his starters. Imagine losing van Dijk to a long term injury over a couple pointless games.
 
Djemba-Djemba said:
We saw with how Southampton have scrapped for their lives against City and Utd that it doesn't always matter if a team has nothing to play for.

Hell look at Crystal Palace against Chelsea last week.
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You could easily argue that the pressure free environment can work in a teams favour
 
If Liverpool lose tonight they can't break the points record therefore they won't have anything to play for vs Chelsea and don't expect them to do us any favours and try to win if that's the case.

The perfect result tonight would be a draw which still gives them a slim chance of breaking the record then a draw vs Chelsea which makes it unreachable + gives us a chance to leapfrog Chelsea.

Arsenal 1 - 1 Liverpool. Fingers crossed!
 
Posh Red said:
You could easily argue that the pressure free environment can work in a teams favour
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Exactly.

And they're playing teams who are incredibly tense and nervous.

Nobody knows, teams can just go on runs at the end of a season and it can make no sense. Bournemouth have looked dreadful for most of the season and yet in their last 3 games they've drawn with Spurs, battered Leicester and only lost 2-1 at City. How many people would have predicted that when we were hammering them 5-2?

Palace tomorrow could be be really easy like Brighton away or it could be really difficult like Southampton at home.

All you can say is that Chelsea and Leicester still have to play Wolves Liverpool Sheff Utd and Tottenham. They're not bad teams to be hoping do you a favour.
 
Klopper76 said:
You're not supposed to lose your best players for 80% of the season though. How often did United lose Ronaldo or Giggs or Ferdinand to long term injuries? It's not something you're supposed to deal with.

Do you go into every season assuming you're going to lose one of your best players to a serious injury for most of it?
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I think the point is just that Liverpool have a lot of quality in their starting XI relative to how effective their playing style is and that they can overcome injuries from players, but of the seven really top players - they don't really miss any time to negatively impact the team (Mane, Firmino, Salah, Robertson, TAA, Allison, Fabinho). United don't have enough quality currently or a type of way they know they can play to compensate for less quality to continue to get full results or it's extremely difficult to grind out results like it was with Mourinho's second year and it's unlikely to get those breaks and achieve those fine margins year over year.

United recently have five players who are really good, but if one goes down, especially in central midfield, they could suffer a bit more (Pogba or Bruno). If Martial goes down, then Ighalo is a good backup, but totally different player to Martial. If Greenwood or Rashford go down, James is totally different to either player. If Pogba goes down, as we saw it, the team can suffice with Bruno, Fred, and Matic, but it's obviously not the same.

United at their Fergie peak had more than enough talent in their XI and understood how they could get results with bench players in a league that didn't have the talent up and down the table it does now. Liverpool have a lot of quality players in their starting XI and they do exactly what is done for the greater good of the team, which doesn't always need the top quality players. If United lost Ronaldo or Giggs, they still had a the best defense in Europe, Rooney, Scholes, Nani, Chicha, Carrick, Berbatov, etc to get them through games and it was professional displays, seeing out leads and being in control.

If Liverpool lost TAA for the duration United lost Pogba, Liverpool wouldn't be the same but should be okay because they still have quality all over the pitch and can replace some of TAA open play output and other players pick up the slack. Losing Allison wasn't that big of a let off because having an adequate back in Adrian was okay. It wasn't Karius coming into goal for Allison.

Fabinho adds that extra class in the midfield, but a combo of Henderson, Wijlandum, and one from Lallana, Ox, Milner (very underrated), was still able to do a good job and keep functioning for the purpose of the team.
 
Nori- said:
If Liverpool lose tonight they can't break the points record therefore they won't have anything to play for vs Chelsea and don't expect them to do us any favours and try to win if that's the case.

The perfect result tonight would be a draw which still gives them a slim chance of breaking the record then a draw vs Chelsea which makes it unreachable + gives us a chance to leapfrog Chelsea.

Arsenal 1 - 1 Liverpool. Fingers crossed!
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Could give a toss about the points record to be honest. If that means they thrash chelski then I'd be all for it. Gives us a better chance at top four.
 
Nori- said:
If Liverpool lose tonight they can't break the points record therefore they won't have anything to play for vs Chelsea and don't expect them to do us any favours and try to win if that's the case.

The perfect result tonight would be a draw which still gives them a slim chance of breaking the record then a draw vs Chelsea which makes it unreachable + gives us a chance to leapfrog Chelsea.

Arsenal 1 - 1 Liverpool. Fingers crossed!
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I might be wrong but I think Liverpool are being presented with the trophy after that game. I doubt they’d want to lose.
 
Arsenal are typically useless against top sides in the premier league, so it should be another AFT special.
 
Arsenal concede and straight over to AFTV to revisit the moment :lol:
 
I know they've already won the title and they probably won't be 100% on it.

But having to go to Anfield and win is the toughest task in football at the minute.

Will be very tough for Chelsea
 
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