Liverpool Football Club took to the field at Ewood Park on Tuesday night in the midst of their worst run of form in 50 years. Normally considered a routine victory for the club from Merseyside, especially given the precarious position of opposing side Blackburn Rovers, victory was anything but assured for Kenny Dalglish’s men.

An electric start for the visitors saw Liverpool take a two goal lead thanks to some lethargic defending from Blackburn and two Maxi Rodriguez strikes. It was not long after however and Liverpool’s recent run of form seemed to kick in, first with the sending off of goalkeeper Alexander Doni, albeit substitute goalkeeper Brad Jones saved the resulting penalty, and two goals from Rovers striker Yakubu had levelled the scores.

With time running down and Liverpool having been forced to play with just ten men for the majority of the match, Blackburn were increasing the tempo and trying to find a goal which would earn them an invaluable three points. Unfortunately for the home fans however, it was the much maligned Liverpool forward Andy Carroll who grabbed a winner, powering a header beyond the helpless Paul Robinson.

Liverpool may not have played their best football this season, but they have also had their fair share of bad luck, and this game may signal a change in fortunes for the club. Having lost games in the dying minutes with alarming regularity this season, the result against Blackburn will have come as sweet relief to many of Liverpool’s fans and players, none more so than out -of-form striker Carroll.

The former Newcastle man has suffered a torrid start to his Liverpool career, notching just nine goals in his first 50 appearances for the club, much of which has been attributed his inflated transfer fee of £35 million and the resulting loss of confidence after he was unable to perform to a standard befitting the fee in his first few months on Merseyside.

This late goal could change everything for Carroll. The relief and joy of scoring was clearly visible on Carroll’s face as he ran off to celebrate his winning goal, and has already warned local rivals Everton that his side are high no confidence as they head into their FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley on Saturday.

The challenge for Dalglish remains to get the best out of both Carroll and fellow striker Luis Suarez when they are both on the pitch together, and is an unenviable task. Should Dalglish succeed however, then the rest of the English Premier League will need to sit up and take notice as the physicality and aerial ability of Carroll interspersed with ball skills and finishing of Suarez could yet be a feared strike force.

Far more important than the three points received for the victory, as Champions League qualification is no longer a realistic proposition for Liverpool, is the sense of belief that it will have given back to the players whose lack of confidence has been visible in recent displays. Although not yet a squad capable of challenging for the EPL, they are a talented group who will feel confident about their chances of picking up their second trophy of the season in the FA Cup.

Although the result is anything but a foregone conclusion for either side, with both the red and blue halves of Merseyside descending on Wembley this Saturday one thing can be taken for granted, there’s going to be fireworks.

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With many of the stars having a good trip with their international teams the week before, this past week brought about some great matches that have caused some big changes in the standings. This includes Chelsea regaining a top three position, Stoke City taking the fourth place position, and Liverpool slipping down two spots to fifth place.

However, Manchester United and Manchester City are still going head to head for the leading position in the league, making the space between the leaders and the followers in the standings quite large.

Arsenal 1:0 Swansea City

Arsenal came out in better form than they had in their 8-2 loss to Manchester United two weeks ago, allowing them to move up in the standings and maybe motivate the team to reach their usual top four position once again.

The win was not a pretty win, with the only goal coming in the 40^th minute from Andrei Arshavin after a terrible mistake between Swansea goalkeeper Michael Vorm and one of his defenders. This left the net wind open for Arshavin to help Arsenal win a big three points that they desperately needed.

Everton 2:2 Aston Villa

After an entertaining match that saw several goals and drama with penalties, neither Everton nor Aston Villa was able to come away from the match with a win.

The first goal of the match came off the boot of Everton forward Leon Osman in the 19^th minute. This gave Everton the lead going into the second half. However, Aston Villa was able to equalize in the 63^rd minute when midfielder Stilian Petrov was able to get past Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard.

Drama came five minutes later with a penalty kick awarded to Everton’s Leighton Baines who was able to hit the back of the net. After a strong battle in the closing minutes of the match, Aston Villa was able to equalize yet again from a shot off the boot of Gabriel Agbonlahor in the 83^rd minute, giving both teams a point in the standings.

Manchester City 3:0 Wigan Athletic

Sergio Aguero, Manchester City’s most popular newcomer from this past transfer window, showed he was more than worth the money paid for him by contributing all three of the goals in their win against Wigan Athletic.

Aguero scored early in the first half, putting the ball in the back of the net in the 13^th minute. It wasn’t until the second half when Aguero would put in two more goals to finish his hat trick and stop any chance of Wigan making a comeback in the latter half of the game. With this win, Manchester City sits in second place due to goal difference between Manchester United.

Sunderland 1:2 Chelsea

Chelsea moved back into the top four of the Premier League with their win against Sunderland, who they outplayed the entire match. The first goal of the game was scored by Chelsea defender John Terry in the 18^th minute, and was the only goal scored in the first half. Daniel Sturridge, in covering for the injured Didier Drogba, put the second goal in for Chelsea in the 50^th minute.

Although there was a glimmer of hope shown in Sunderland when substitute Ji Dong-Wong scored in the last minute of the match, Chelsea was able to defend well through injury time and secure the win.

Wolverhampton 0:2 Tottenham

Although the game was uneventful in the first half, Tottenham’s Emmanuel Adebayor was able to secure a goal and the lead in the 67^th minute. Jermaine Defoe, Tottenham’s second forward paired up with Adebayor, scored the second goal in the 80^th minute.

Tottenham was able to rally in the last half hour of the match in order to secure the win against Wolverhampton, and also move farther away from regulation.

Stoke City 1:0 Liverpool

The one and only goal was scored from a penalty kick off the boot of Stoke forward Jonathan Walters in the 21^st minute. The rest of the match was evenly battled between the two sides; however, Liverpool was unable to capitalize on chances while Stoke’s defense showed to be the stronger of the two teams.

Liverpool slipped down the standings with their first loss of the season to Stoke City, although both teams were evenly matched throughout the entire game.

Bolton 0:5 Manchester United

Javier Hernandez came out in form for his first start this season scoring in the first five minutes of the match. Wayne Rooney also continued his form with a goal in the 20^th minute, then another goal five minutes later. Hernandez scored his second goal of the match in the 58^th minute with no sign of Bolton having a chance to get one in the net.

Finally, Rooney finished his hat trick in the 68^th minute, making it back to back hat tricks for the player. Another high scoring match leaves Manchester United at the top of the standings, along with making more room in between them and other teams in the middle of the standings.

Norwich City 0:1 West Bromwich Albion

Thanks to a very early first half goal, West Brom was able to get their first win of the season while visiting Norwich City on Saturday. Peter Odemwingie was able to capitalize on a mistake in the third minute of the game between one Norwich defender and backup goalkeeper Declan Rudd, filling in the first spot due to John Ruddy’s suspension.

This one goal was all West Brom needed in order to get their first win, allowing them to forget about their three game losing streak and hopefully keep away from the relegation zone.

Fulham 1:1 Blackburn

With the two teams sitting in the relegation zone, and in desperate need of a couple points, the battle between Fulham and Blackburn concluded in a draw that keeps both teams without a win so far this season.

Although putting up a great fight at the beginning of the match, Blackburn was the first to score with a blistering shot off the boot of Ruben Rochina in the 32^nd minute. Thankfully, Fulham were able to come back six minutes later from the help of Bobby Zamora, making it all even going into the uneventful second half.

Queens Park Rangers 0:0 Newcastle United

With five newly transferred players in the starting squad for Queens Park Rangers, Newcastle United had the mindset of coming out of the match with a win since the players would not be in sync with each other. However, QPR were the team to watch this match due to having the most scoring chances in the match even though they could not capitalize on any of them.

Newcastle move up to sixth place, leaving them secure until next weekend.

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