MARK LAWRENSON: Two-man team? Arsene Wenger is one with that problem now

Apr 8 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

A LOT of the criticism levelled at Liverpool this season has centred on how heavily they rely on Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard.

That without those two and all the goals they have provided, they wouldn’t be in the top four and challenging for a Champions League semi-final.

This is probably a fair argument – but it’s also a redundant one. Because every top side has its main match-winners that it can’t do without.

And that’s why Arsenal are vulnerable at the moment, and why they face an uphill task at Anfield tonight.

For Gerrard and Torres at Liverpool, read Fabregas and Adebayor at the Emirates because the fact is Arsenal’s over-reliance on them is costing them dearly now.

Early on in the season Fabregas’s goals and overall influence inspired Arsene Wenger’s side to the great start that got them a foothold in the title race.

Then when Adebayor exploded into life with all those goals a couple of months back, they charged to the top of the Premier League table and looked unstoppable.

But now? They’re looking like players weighed down by the excursions of a full season. Tired, running out of ideas and not getting a lot of help from the players around them.

It’s why Rafael Benitez holds the upper hand going into tonight’s second leg.

He has been able to rest his top two players and keep them fresh while Wenger doesn’t have that luxury.

That may not be a satisfactory situation for Liverpool in the grander scheme of things – most fans would like to see Benitez forced into playing Gerrard and Torres in every game because that would mean they were going for the title.

But that’s an argument for another day. Today is about getting to the last four of the Champions League and Gerrard and Torres are in far better shape to lead their team there than Fabregas and Adebayor.

Wenger’s not had a lot of choice in the matter. Although he could have strengthened the numbers in January, the injury to Eduardo was a real blow that he couldn’t have foreseen.

Having him available now might have allowed Adebayor to be rested or at least taken some of the goalscoring responsibility away from him.

Instead, it looks like the reliance on the same two players that Liverpool are so often accused of is starting to prove Arsenal’s downfall.

Of course, Benitez has proved that when he rests players, the ones he brings in aren’t good enough to sustain a title challenge. The squad just doesn’t have that depth of quality to it.

But the same must be said of Arsenal. If Wenger felt he could manage without his two main players he would have given them more time off.

But he hasn’t and it’s clearly taking its toll at this late stage of the season. A season which could crumble around the Frenchman if tonight doesn’t go his way.

However, that’s still a big ‘if’. Just because Liverpool go into the second leg with an away goal that doesn’t automatically mean they are dead certs to go through.

It’s set up perfectly and I honestly believe it’s 50-50.

Arsenal have enough about them to score in any game and they proved in Milan in the last round that they can raise their game when it matters.

If their players aren’t mentally tuned in they will go under but they always seem to have spells where they make chances. They have to take them.

As for Liverpool, they don’t have to chase the game and you would always take that away goal as an insurance policy.

So it will be a fantastic night with a great atmosphere. But as for a prediction of the game, well, I said last week I wouldn’t be surprised if all three meetings between these sides in a week finished up with the same scoreline.

After the way the first two have gone, I see no reason to change that view.

Mark Lawrenson was talking to NICK SMITH