Gerrard goal was crucial to keeping up title hopes

Aug 14 2007 by Mark Lawrenson, Liverpool Daily Post

I DON’T think it’s too dramatic to say that Steven Gerrard’s free-kick has kept Liverpool in the title race. Because if he hadn’t scored it, come this weekend, they could already have been out of it.

A 1-1 draw at Aston Villa would have been bad enough considering they could have won that game by two or three.

But then Chelsea go and win on Sunday and they could beat Reading in midweek to make it six points out of six.

Then if they go to Anfield on Sunday and get another three points, they would have been eight points clear and all over.

It might seem an exaggeration to make that assessment at this early stage but that’s the way things are now.

Think of the ground Liverpool lost in the first few weeks last year and they were unable to recover it because the top teams rarely drop any points.

So to have that first away win and first three points on the board is absolutely imperative with the first Champion’s League interruption on the horizon tomorrow.

All in all then, I think it had to go down as a good weekend for Rafael Benitez.

Over the course of the season Villa Park will be one of the most difficult places to go, just as it was last year.

It’s a great victory to have under your belt but, apart from the result, what I think the manager should be most pleased about is the fact that his players looked how they should after a pre-season.

They were fit, lively, kept going until the end and many got a much-needed 90 minutes.

The quality of the football, the touch, the sharpness, that all comes with game but in terms of the first one, it’s the basics you need to get right and Liverpool did that to near perfection.

That’s why I don’t think Martin O’Neill could have complained if he had been well beaten my a much more convincing scoreline.

But big scores, playing well or even playing badly don’t matter a jot on day one. It’s the scoreline.

And an extra little bonus of Manchester United dropping two points made the weekend even sweeter in terms of Liverpool’s pursuit of the top two.

Because while it is undoubtedly way too soon to be use Saturday as any kind of an indicator as to Liverpool’s chances of catching Chelsea and United, there are hints that they can get closer.

If the game had finished 1-1, it would have been a bit of a case of ‘here we go again’.

Digging out the kind of win that champions always manage to do has made a big difference to the build-up to the visit of Chelsea.

It’s no longer the must-win game it would have been if Gerrard hadn’t curled in that beauty at Villa Park.

Everton are now predictably impressive

IT SHOWS how far Everton have come that you can predict them far more easily than in previous years.

At home to a Wigan team many have tipped for relegation on the first day, they were expected to win and they did.

It didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t know, mainly that Mikel Arteta is a good player and the team needs everyone chipping in with the goals.

It looks like the same team spirit that carried them through last season is set to once again, and if they get those elusive two players Bill Kenwright is always telling me they need to be the finished article before the end of August, then it’s happy days.

Going to Tottenham tonight will be tough, as it always is, but Sunderland proved on Saturday that they are always vulnerable without Ledley King.

And the fact is Sunderland are still a pretty average side so I remain unconvinced by anyone who thinks Spurs have a divine right to break into the top four this year.

Roy Keane’s side stopped them playing and if Everton can do the same tonight expect the home crowd to really turn against Tottenham.

Those supporters see a couple of big-money signings and suddenly think they’ve got a great team so they will already be feeling pretty deflated from the weekend when they turn up at White Hart Lane tonight.

In contrast, Everton are up and running and feeling much better about themselves following their weekend victory.

It could just be the perfect time to play Spurs.

A Premier League relegation battle – in August

THE opening weekend of the football season can sometimes make people re-think their predictions.

But even if Chelsea had lost at home to Birmingham City I would still have had them down for the title. John Terry will soon be back to sort those defensive problems out and they still came up with the goals when they needed to.

They will grind out those results all season long – and that was exactly what Manchester United failed to do against Reading.

Once Wayne Rooney went off you got the impression they wouldn’t score and they only really threatened from long range thereafter.

An early wobble.

Other observations?

Well, I hope I’m not being too cheeky when I say that tomorrow’s Wigan v Middlesbrough game looks like the season’s first relegation battle!

* Mark Lawrenson was talking to Nick Smith