Not so Merry Christmas weekend awaits Liverpool. What next?

Santa did not bring easy points for Liverpool this festive season, he brought the blues.
As I write this blog, Liverpool is hours away from facing Manchester City at the Etihad. None of the top teams in the EPL have gone to the Etihad this season and got a favourable result. United were thrashed 4-1 at the Etihad and Arsenal were thrashed 6-3.
Chelsea and Mourinho at Stanford bridge is another difficult opposition three days after the trip to the Etihad. Chelsea showed at the Emirates that they are ready to play boring football to grind out the one point from Liverpool.
Arsenal is top of the league now after winning 3-1 against West Ham.City is a point adrift of Liverpool. Chelsea is two points adrift of Liverpool. Losses to these two sides over the next couple of days would mean sliding down the premier league table. But more importantly it would mean loss in confidence for a team considered by many as title contenders this season.
Safe to say that Liverpool cannot afford to loose these two ties if they are dreaming of the EPL crown. So what best can Liverpool do in the next couple of days? Remember Liverpool go into these fictures without their talismanic captain – Steven Gerrard.
At the Etihad, Liverpool’s best bet would be to attack. City has shown that they can score at will at the Etihad and even the sides with the best defensive records have not been able to contain them.
Here is a stat that might make a red fan happy – City have conceded more goals that any other team in the top four. Something Liverpool needs to attack. City is expected to go all out for victory at the Etihad and that is what makes them vulnerable at the back. Then is when is the pace of Sturridge, Henderson and the man in form Suarez comes in. Liverpool’s scoring chances would come in counter attacks and they should be looking to score goals rather than containing City.
At the bridge against Chelsea, Liverpool needs a different tactic. Expect that match to be a grind in the cold of London. Chelsea will not give an inch away to Liverpool and Liverpool should do the same. It would be a game decided by a speck of brilliance from match winning players on either side. But for the remaining part of the game it would be tussle in midfield with neither side ready to commit players forward. The Reds should defend in numbers and try to grind out a point from Chelsea.
Liverpool has again made a promising start to the season – fuelled mainly by the gem called Suarez.He cannot stop scoring off late. Liverpool has made great starts in previous league campaigns only to fade out at the end. The new year is the time when the team starts to fade.
Victory against City and Chelsea would establish Liverpool as firm favourites for the title. But is Liverpool actually looking at the title? I would say No. Liverpool is looking at a top four finish.
For a top four finish Liverpool should be looking for a maximum of four and a minimum of two points from the six available. Zero points from these two matches would probably break their top four finish hopes.
But if they target at either two or four points and play accordingly, they should be strong contenders to finish the season.