Arsenal's 1-0 defeat away to Olympiacos in the Champions League group stage was their second defeat in two weeks, and Arsenal's second defeat in all competitions this season. Some media believe that it is precisely because of Arsenal's excellent momentum in the league and the Champions League that Wenger dared to give up the League Cup, winning 14 consecutive league games, tying the winning streak, leading the second-place Manchester United by 5 points with one round less, and the Champions League group qualified, which is the best start in Arsenal's history.

Before the start of the season, Arsenal FC made it clear that Arsene Wenger must end a four-year winless run this season, and the Carabao Cup title is clearly the easiest to win, and if it were not for greater confidence in the league, Wenger would certainly not give up the chance to reach the last four of the Carabao Cup.

In the round of 16, Arsenal will have a crucial moment to set a new winning streak, and they will also welcome Liverpool, the most violent team in the Premier League, and the game will be played at Anfield.

For Arsenal, this is another severe test, the first two challenges to Manchester United and Chelsea, Arsenal have won, and won beautifully, although Liverpool is not in good shape, troubles, and is at a low ebb, but the game between Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea is called the four minor leagues, a small cycle, this level of the game can not be seen in the form of the process and result of the game, just in the same bad situation, Liverpool at home with a rainbow of momentum to kill Manchester United, who has won consecutive games.

However, compared to Arsenal, Liverpool's situation is indeed extremely bad.

Four days earlier, the fearsome Anfield had been a sad spot for Liverpool when they were beaten 2-1 at home to Fiorentina in the Reds' first back-to-back European defeat since 1964. With 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses, Liverpool finished the Champions League group stage with 7 points, which also set a record for the lowest points in the Champions League group stage, and they can only play in the Europa League, while their opponents in the group stage are only Lyon and Fiorentina, and the Reds are the biggest favorites to top the group before the start of the season.

In the league, Liverpool is 13 points behind Arsenal, who have played one game less, and is already determined to miss the title race, and even the top four may not be able to retain.

Now the top four teams are not only Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, Tottenham, Villa and Manchester City at the same time to attack the top four, Tottenham Hotspur has completed the transition, the recent form is amazing, Manchester City was bought by the Abu Dhabi consortium, the victory is in the crowd, not afraid to play a protracted battle, Villa is the most harmonious club in the Premier League, the guest and the host are united, if Liverpool can not climb out of the quagmire early, next year to play the Europa League is not a fantasy.

In this case, the Gunners met the Reds, just a little headache for Arsenal, but for the Reds, it was a leak in the house, as long as the home team loses again, Benitez is afraid that it will not be able to stabilize the downward situation, before the start of the season, Liverpool's top management released a gloomy wind, if Liverpool can not win a title this season, it is no longer the club's fault, it can only mean that Benitez is no longer suitable for coaching in Liverpool. From now on, Liverpool's chances are only in the FA Cup, but even if Liverpool can win the FA Cup, if they can't finish in the top four of the league, the club may have to sack him to the detriment of the public.

At this time, Arsenal had not yet challenged Liverpool, and Benitez had exchanged fire with potential opponent Jurgen Klinsmann.

Due to Benitez's dismal results this season, Klinsmann, who has been idle since leaving Bayern, is considered to be expected to succeed the Spaniard. In an interview with The Sun, Klinsmann also pointed out that Benitez's team has five major shortcomings, such as "lack of speed", "lack of creativity", and "no second first-class scorer other than Torres", saying that if Liverpool loses at home to Arsenal with Li Huan, they will definitely not be able to climb out of the quagmire of "collapse".

Benitez, who was frustrated, was naturally furious about this, and he immediately fired back sharply at Klinsmann.

"The last time I heard about him [Klinsmann], he was a marketing expert and now he's a coaching expert! So what about his coaching career? There can only be one word to describe it: short life! ”

"There's always someone who likes to talk and there's always someone who likes to criticize, but I don't listen, the fans don't care what they say, just like me. We'll just turn off the volume on the TV. ”

Benitez knows it's useless to just attack potential opponents and he assured fans that his team won't get bogged down. 'First of all, we will finish in the top four at the end of the season. In my five years at Liverpool, we've had every season come off strong, and this season will be no different. So when someone questioned whether our best players would consider leaving because they couldn't play in the Champions League, I wouldn't think about that possibility at all. Reducing debt is our priority this year, but I don't think we're going to be a second Leeds because we're aware of the crisis and we're trying to defuse it. We're going to improve, both athletically and financially. ”

But the criticism of Benitez and Liverpool has not stopped, and Reds legend Souness has also warned that Liverpool has never become what it is today, and that Liverpool has only been in the league for 15 rounds and Liverpool has lost the opportunity to compete for the league title, Champions League and League Cup, and Souness hopes that Benitez will play 12 points to deal with the current situation and not become a sinner for Liverpool. Leeds United is a case in point.

The Young Guards Leeds United were once glamorous, but after the lavish investment of the chairman Rieddale, they were not able to achieve anything in terms of results. After losing qualification for the Champions League, Leeds United fell into a financial crisis and had to survive by selling young talents such as Rio Ferdinand, Woodgate, Colwill, Bowyer and Darkett, but were still tragically relegated in 2004.

Perhaps because Souness had played and coached Liverpool after all, Benitez did not retort too much, but he still expressed his dissatisfaction, "At this time, all Liverpudlian people should unite, not stand on the sidelines and say cool things, I have coached Valladolid, Osasuna, Tenerife, Valencia, Liverpool, won the league title, the League Cup and the Champions League, I have enough experience to deal with the current situation, I don't need to listen to others." ”

Souness's coaching results were not good, and after being ridiculed by Benitez, he was speechless, but the media expressed doubts about Benitez's allergic reaction, thinking that Benitez, who has always been steady, was so angry that the situation might be really difficult to control.

The worse Liverpool is, the happier Arsenal becomes, Wenger and his disciples hate Benitez to be fired before the big game starts, this Spaniard Benitez is also a student of Capello, is the nemesis of all technical football, was the nemesis of Barcelona when he was in La Liga, and became the nemesis of Arsenal after coming to the Premier League, so far, Arsenal has not won three points at Anfield for six years, that is, since Benitez came to Liverpool, Arsenal has not won at Anfield, Arsenal's fear of Benitez is evident.

Liverpool and Arsenal have met 205 times in their history, with Liverpool holding the upper hand with 81 wins, 53 draws and 71 defeats. In the history of the Premier League, the two sides have met 34 times, with Liverpool having the upper hand with 14 wins, 11 draws and 9 losses, including 10 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses at home. The two sides have previously met 86 times at Anfield, with the Reds winning 49, drawing 16 and losing 21, also having the absolute upper hand.

For Liverpool, the best news is the return of the injured man, with Rafael Benitez having a healthy Torres, Steven Gerrard and Aquilani at their disposal for the first time, and for Benitez, the weight of the three is the equivalent of Arsenal's Li Huan, Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie. Liverpool's nine games against the top 10 teams this season turned out to be only one win, two draws and six defeats, mainly related to the absence of these three people, if the team soul Gerrard and Torres were present, Liverpool would never be so miserable.

Benitez also has the confidence to face this battle with Arsenal after the return of the three big players, after the war of words with Klinsmann and Souness, the Spaniards burned the war to London, "Arsenal is an excellent team, their performance this season is impressive, but we are also a good team, we have won, lost, drawn, this is normal for two excellent teams, this game for us, the biggest advantage is Gerrard, Aquilani and Torres are back, They're all game-changing players and we're playing at Anfield, which is another advantage because we're a great team here, Arsenal haven't won here in six years and we want to keep that record going. ”

Benitez did not lightly challenge Arsenal, in the case of low morale and unfavorable situation, taking the initiative to challenge can often make players and fans pluck up courage and share the same hatred, Benitez knows the truth, and it will be up to Arsenal to pick up.

(To be continued)