Arsenal host Blackburn having dropped points midweek to Bolton, a win is a must for Arsene Wenger’s team.

Arsenal are currently sitting in seventh in the league and dropping points away to Bolton on Wednesday could prove to be the nail in the coffin in their Champions League quest. Arsene Wenger is still holding out hope for his team to turn things around. Arsenals problems midweek were nailed on their inability to score. And looking at the entire season thus far Arsenal’s reliance on Robin Van Persie has become almost debilitating to the team. Without Van Persie’s goals this team just struggles. Wenger brought in a loan signing in Thierry Henry that lifted the fans but apart from a fifteen minute cameo against Leeds the former “king” hasnt really done alot. Arsenal will need Oxland Chamberlain and Theo Walcott to start scoring a few more goals to take the pressure off captain Van Persie. The return of Gervinho after the African Cup of Nations should also help.

Blackburn Rovers lost midweek against Newcastle in a game they had loads of chances but couldnt convert them and to go along with missed chances was a defensive mishap or two that allowed Newcastle in to score twice. Steve Kean will need his team to start picking up points very soon or they will be staying in the relegation zone. With Yakubu up front Blackburn do have a bonafide goalscorer but he was suspended and returns this weekend. Blackburn are a team that are struggling to pick up points and everything seems to be going against them every game.

I picked Arsenal midweek as one of my premium picks and was completely let down by the gunners inability to break down one of the Premier Leagues worst defences. Arsenal though are at home this weekend and should get it together to get a home win against one of the leagues relegation strugglers. There is not much value in picking the gunners in this spot though as they are 3/10 favourites. So I’ll take the overs as I see Arsenal bagging three or four here having been held scoreless midweek.Follow me on twitter@antonpippo

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Team News

Striker Luis Suárez returns from an eight-match suspension and will go
straight back into the squad to face Tottenham at Anfield on Monday.

The Uruguay international has not played since Boxing Day and is likely to be
given a place among the substitutes.

Captain Steven Gerrard is also back having been rested for the midweek win at
Wolves.

New signing Louis Saha could make his Tottenham debut at Liverpool. J

ermain Defoe is unlikely to play, Rafael van der Vaart is struggling with a
calf problem and Emmanuel Adebayor hobbled off during Tuesday’s win over
Wigan with a hamstring complaint.

Aaron Lennon is extremely doubtful, William Gallas and Tom Huddlestone are
unavailable, but Kyle Walker (groin) and Ledley King should be fit.

Match Notes

There was once a time Tottenham needn’t have bothered to turn up at Anfield.
All they ever left with was a match programme. Times have changed. In a
battle of two pure footballing teams, Spurs now outpass and outpace the
Merseysiders. They’ve embarrassed Kenny Dalglish twice since he took over,
most notably with an emphatic 4-0 at White Hart Lane. The return of Luis
Suarez could make this unmissable entertainment.

Betting: Home 6-5, Away 15-8, Draw 21-10.

Stat of the game: Spurs’ Gareth Bale has 10 goals, just one short of
his 11-goal haul last season.

Chris Bascombe’s prediction: Liverpool 2 Tottenham Hotspur 2

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Tottenham Hotspur are within five points of league leaders Manchester City on February 1. This particular Spurs fan isn’t doing much complaining. Sure, Tottenham could have done better during the middle of January. We learned over the past few weeks that no team is perfect, and Spurs did well to bounce back from what could have been the most devastating defeat of the campaign.

2012 Tottenham Hotspur January review: Best game

Not all of the 2-0 win over Everton on January 11 was enjoyable to watch. Both goals of the contest were memorable, and the second half strike from Benoit Assou-Ekotto, one buried from 30 yards out, was a goal of the year candidate. Spurs entered the new year as a team toying with title contention, and this victory put them within one weekend of the top two. Granted, that didn’t last for long, but Tottenham supporters were on top of the world that Wednesday evening.

2012 Tottenham Hotspur January review: Worst result

The loss to City haunts to this day, and not just because it could be the difference between Tottenham having a championship season and Spurs finishing the campaign somewhere lower in the top four. Watching Gareth Bale and Jermain Defoe complete a 2-on-1 run down the field in stoppage time only for Defoe to miss sending home the game winner by inches was heartbreaking. The converted Mario Balotelli penalty that followed just minutes after Defoe’s miss crushed the souls of a Tottenham fan base that had just watched Spurs rally back from a 2-0 deficit. That one is going to hurt for awhile.

2012 Tottenham Hotspur January review: MVP

Luka Modric was solid throughout January, but I have to go with Gareth Bale here. Bale played his best football of the season in the second half of the month, curling in a magnificent equalizer in the City match, and scoring twice against Wigan. Spurs looked like a completely different squad when facing Watford without the reliable Bale in the lineup. The Welshman has, not shockingly, become Tottenham’s most important player as they prepare for a stretch that includes away days at Liverpool and Arsenal.

2012 Tottenham Hotspur January review: A question

When is it OK to become concerned about the play of Emmanuel Adebayor? He hasn’t scored since the draw against Chelsea back on December 22, and he has, outside of a few kinda/sorta memorable moments, been mostly invisible in the past month. Some critics would argue that this, not the guy who scored nine goals in the first half of the season, is the Adebayor that Tottenham supporters should have expected all along. I’m still holding out hope. We’ll see for how long.

2012 Tottenham Hotspur January review: Grade

Five points. Spurs are but five points from the top, and they are, as of February 1, seven points clear of Chelsea. Arsenal are in seventh place, 12 points behind Spurs. Can somebody please remind me why I’m supposed to feel so disappointed this winter? Sure, the games against Stoke, Wolves and City could have, and some would argue should have, gone differently. It’s also possible that I could be less enthused about the club 27 days from the typing of this sentence. At the conclusion of another “could have been better, could have been worse” month for Spurs, I’m choosing to keep the faith.

Ask me again about Tottenham’s title chances after Monday’s contest at Anfield.

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No rational person could blame them, but Arsene Wenger, fans’ primary target of their scorn, deserves much less harassment than those that sit in the highest positions within the club, despite the lack of results on and off of the pitch.

In the past year, the Gunners have collapsed in the EPL to the point where they had to play their way into the Champions League, sold off two of their best players and failed to replace them with sufficient summer signings. This year’s squad has failed to be a dominant force in the league and currently sit seventh, in serious jeopardy on missing out on Europe’s top competition.

All the while, the fans saw the writing on the wall and clamored for a voice of reason to force the club to do something about Arsenal’s lack of depth and talent at key positions.

Instead, the club did what it always does best: passed on making any type of impact, opting to sign Thomas Eisfeld, a teenager who has had a history of injuries. It’s like he had the Arsenal crest tattooed on his forehead.

Less than 24 hours after the transfer window closed, the Gunners took to the pitch against Bolton and delivered an absolute vintage Arsenal performance when you look at the club’s trophy-less streak. Star players missed great chances, and there wasn’t enough energy off of the bench to give the spark needed to win.

In the immediate aftermath, the fans have revolted, demanding changes and answers, neither of which are coming any time soon. Meanwhile, Wenger has been attacked for his stubbornness, as if he’s the end-all and be-all at the Emirates.

If you want a target for Arsenal’s struggles, look no further than the people who have the most power. Wenger has a say, there’s no doubt about that, but the malaise that hangs over the club starts with the majority shareholder Stan Kroenke and chief executive Ivan Gazidis.

Kroenke added the Gunners to his collection of franchises, and ever since, he has been a distant figure, the complete opposite of Liverpool owner John Henry, who has thrown himself into the club’s operations and been a very visible presence at Anfield.

Instead, Kroenke has put his efforts into acquiring the Los Angeles Dodgers, a pursuit that has drawn the ire of Arsenal fans everywhere. The man is willing to pour millions of dollars into pursuit of a baseball team but isn’t doing the same for the Gunners, who could have used a serious influx of cash in the past few transfer windows.

As fans clamored for any sort of action that would stabilize a crumbling 2011-12 campaign, Gazidis had the nerve to claim that Manchester City, tied atop the league table, should be jealous of what Arsenal has.

Per Sky Sports, Gazidis explained:

We’re in three competitions this year. Manchester City would love to be in three competitions. They’re not. So money is not everything in this game.

I don’t disagree that it’s important. But we do things based on a value system. We’re about creating star players, not about buying them.

There is an utter lack of ambition within the club’s hierarchy, and the notoriously competitive Wenger is the board’s fall guy. You will find few people in the Premier League who hate losing more than the legendary Arsenal manager, and I have a hard time believing that he’s okay with using a roster with massive holes in it and running players into the ground because of those flaws.

Jack Wilshere’s injury woes and Aaron Ramsey’s sluggish play can be directly tied to the shape of the roster, and all the while, the club has sat on a stockpile of cash. Instead of investing that money back into the team, allowing Wenger to compete with the best sides in the league, they’ve sat on it, forcing the manager to work with the deck stacked against him.

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Yes, Wenger believes in building through the youth system, but he’s not a miser and he’s not a total penny-pincher. There are players to be bought, and I believe the board is behind the determined effort to avoid spending, and it’s going to continue to handicap this group unless it changes.

If anyone at the Emirates believes that Robin van Persie is going to waste his remaining years playing for a club that refuses to address obvious needs all because he plays for the mighty Arsenal, than they need a rude awakening, because he will take his prodigal scoring talents elsewhere, and no one will blame him.

Right now, Arsenal is a rudderless club with a lack of vision at the top. It is time for someone to step in and guide the Gunners into what can be a bright future with some inspired, intelligent spending on quality players.

If Kroenke and Gazidis aren’t those men, then they should hand their titles over to people who can, because the fans who spend hard-earned money on overpriced tickets and concessions deserve better than what they’ve gotten this season. 

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