Big Weekend: Liverpool v Arsenal, Lampard back at Chelsea, Cooper, Toney against Newcastle
It’s a bigger weekend than Frank Lampard had planned. Arsenal’s trip to Liverpool may be one of their toughest remaining tests. Steve Cooper needs a boost.
Game to watch – Liverpool v Arsenal
The form book suggests this ought to be a breeze for the leaders. But Liverpool’s best form is not so indistinguishable in the rear-view mirror for Arsenal fans to relax before going to Anfield.
The Reds have been a shambles for much of the season, summed up by their recent form that has seen them lose three and draw one of their last four games. But all of those matches, in which they’ve mustered a single goal, have been on the road. The last time they were at Anfield, they tw*tted Manchester United 7-0. And they’ve lost only once at home in the league all season.
So they can still turn it on. But even so, only their very best this season would be enough to scupper Arsenal’s charge towards the title while the Gunners are, in Jurgen Klopp’s words, “flying, in incredible shape” and playing “super football that is, honestly, very good to watch”.
Just as impressive as Arsenal’s performances has been their resilience. Almost every test they have passed and every obstacle that was expected to trip them up has been gracefully sidestepped. But if Liverpool decide to show up, after what Klopp insisted was a positive performance at Chelsea – even if we disagreed – then Sunday could be one of the trickier assignments of the nine left for the Gunners.
Manager to watch – Frank Lampard
Part of us thinks that if Todd Boehly isn’t taking the rest of Chelsea’s season seriously, then why should we? But maybe re-hiring Lampard is just daft enough to work.
The nostalgia of Lampard’s return to Stamford Bridge nullifies much of the threat of mutiny on the terraces throughout the remainder of a campaign that hinges on a Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid. And the players won’t have to Google him, like some did when Graham Potter was appointed, since Lampard’s name and face is all over Stamford Bridge and Cobham.
That, though, is unlikely to have the same pacifying effect on the squad as it is intended to on the fans. So how does Lampard get the players onside and on board given his previous failures and the message from the board that his interim appointment sends?
Does he reach for his carrot or his stick in the brief time between his return, the trip to Wolves on Saturday and next week’s visit to the Bernabeu? A short, sharp reminder of the standards expected at Chelsea might be useful in the wake of a half-season in which the players refused to take Potter seriously. Can Lampard do ‘stern’? If he knows he won’t have to worry about these players beyond the end of May then, probably, yes.
In these short-term situations, it’s often wise to go back to basics, which is handy for Lampard. And Chelsea’s main problem, an abject lack of potency, is a simple one to identify, even if it is a little trickier to fix. They created numerous opportunities against Liverpool and in Potter’s last dance against Villa, they were ridiculously profligate.
Lampard need not worry about complex matters such as tactics and defensive shape because, generally, Chelsea aren’t broken in that respect. If he can prompt some ruthlessness from his forwards – tell them all they’re f***ing brilliant – maybe that’s all he needs to drag the Blues closer towards a respectable finish.
Team to watch – Nottingham Forest
Things came to a head once more for Nottingham Forest this week, with the Reds said to have considered a change of manager after the defeat at Leeds that left them eight games without a victory and only out of the relegation zone on goal difference. But, whatever influence the Forest fans had, they used to ensure that Steve Cooper remains at his post. At least for Saturday’s visit to Aston Villa.
This reprieve feels like Cooper’s last, with the vote of semi-confidence issued by the Forest board on Wednesday sounding more threatening than reassuring: “We have all been disappointed with recent performances and it is very clear that a lot of hard work needs to be done to address this urgently. Results and performances must improve immediately.”
They will need to, since Forest travel to an upwardly-mobile Villa side, currently sat in seventh and unexpectedly in the running for a European place thanks to Unai Emery’s fine work. Forest have been wretched away from home, losing 10 and drawing three of 14 so far. And it gets little easier once they are back home, with Manchester United due at the City Ground next week, before they are back on the road to face Liverpool.
How does Cooper spark the necessary improvement? Forest set the bar low at Elland Road with a p*ss-poor performance after a positive start that saw them take a lead they subsequently squandered. The fans are certainly behind the manager. Saturday might show if the players are too.
Player to watch – Ivan Toney
How Toney would love to put a pin in Newcastle’s balloon on Saturday.
The England striker, finally capped by Gareth Southgate in the recent international break, was cut loose by the Magpies after only 10 Premier League minutes in a black and white shirt. He spent three years as a Newcastle player, between 2015 and 2018, but the vast majority of that time was away from St James’ Park on six loan spells. As a Championship club, Newcastle sold Toney to Peterborough for half a million quid in 2018.
Toney himself admits it was the right call. Newcastle had Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dwight Gayle, while Toney was unproven at Championship level. Then he tore up the second tier with Brentford on his way back to the big time.
Toney has scored twice against his old side since the Bees’ promotion but neither came in victories. Indeed, the most recent of those strikes was a consolation in a 5-1 defeat earlier this season.
That was an uncharacteristically poor performance against one of the perceived big boys, with Brentford regularly a nuisance for sides battling for the top four. They were subdued too against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday night, perhaps stung by their openness at Brighton last weekend. Brentford will have to find a balance against Newcastle on Saturday to give Toney a better chance of breaching the league’s best defence.
EFL game to watch – Middlesbrough v Burnley
We should begin to get more clarity over the EFL promotion races and relegation battles with Easter double-headers in the Championship and Leagues One and Two on Good Friday and Easter Monday.
Friday night might be a biggie for Burnley who could clinch promotion back to the Premier League. To seal a return to the top flight this early in the season, they need to hope that fifth-placed Millwall beat fourth-placed Luton in the early kick-off, and they then become the first side to beat Boro at the Riverside under Michael Carrick.
If one or both of those things happen, then the Clarets can clinch promotion by beating Sheffield United in the battle of the top two at Turf Moor on Monday night.
European game to watch – Benfica v Porto
This last week has given us Der Klassiker, El Clasico and Chelsea and Liverpool’s El Sh*tico. Good Friday brings O Clasico – the battle of the top two in Portugal.
Benfica are lording it up with a 10-point lead over Porto at the summit but this clash doesn’t need the standings to add extra spice. These two despise each other enough without the added context of a title race.
It promises to be a huge week for Benfica. Their form this season has already earned Roger Schmidt, in place only since last summer, an improved contract and four days after they host Porto with the chance to go 13 clear with seven to play, they host Inter Milan in the first leg of a very winnable Champions League quarter-final. Domestically, they have lost only one game all season, having scored 66 goals while conceding only 14.
Porto have only lost three and they go to Lisbon in confident mood having gone 11 unbeaten on the road, with Benfica winning only one of the last 10 O Clasicos.