Liverpool sent Chelsea on a downward spiral that they haven't recovered from yet
After ending October with wins against Blackburn and Bolton we went into November on a high. We got that feeling back where we could beat anybody and continued our run with a three one win over Napoli in the opening game of the month.
Though the game started slowly for us and went into the break one down to the Italians, on came our captain and god did he help us again. A fifteen minute hat trick gave us our third win on the spin and put us a point from qualification into the knockout stages of the Europa League.
Continuing in that vein we faced defending champions and League leaders Chelsea at Anfield. Nobody gave us a chance, even some of our own fans had us beaten before a ball was kicked.
I’m quite pleased to say our run went to four straight wins after a Fernando Torres brace sent a huge slice of humble pie to every single one of our doubters. Two excellently taken goals in completely different fashion just further enhanced the fact that he is the world’s greatest forward.
Though we sat back for the entire second half, who really cares? What matters is the result and a relatively comfortable 2-0 win over a side like Chelsea is impressive regardless of how much we sat off them in the second 45.
Our tails were up, our star players were flying and that was the combination when we took the lead against Wigan. A Steven Gerrard through ball, latched onto by Torres and bang – we’re one up within ten minutes. A fifth straight win on the cards and finally on the verge of getting ourselves not only in the hunt for the top four but possibly the title with the way the other sides are dropping points.
But that goal seemed to knock the wind out of our sails more than Wigan’s because we looked lost from there on in. And Wigan finally got the equaliser to dent our charge up the table.
What was to follow at the Britannia Stadium though was unthinkable after the Chelsea result. Stoke just completely tore us apart. We were out muscled, out fought and out played. A two-nil defeat was topped off by, our surprise star of the season, Lucas getting sent off in the dying minutes forcing him to miss the visit of West Ham.
The Hammers’ entered the game bottom of the table and it wasn’t difficult to see why. They were possibly the worst side I’ve seen in the Premiership and certainly the worst West Ham I’ve seen. But we still had to take advantage of them and with goals from Johnson, Kuyt (penalty) and Maxi before the break put us in a commanding position.
It would have been nice to build on that lead in the second half but we just went through the motions thereafter. Back to winning ways and putting the last two results to the back of our minds a little.
Our final game of the month was a tough visit to White Hart Lane where we probably put in our best away performance of the season but we didn’t get the result we wanted.
Martin Skrtel opened the scoring with a finish a centre forward would be proud of but then the Slovakian also equalised for the home side by putting the ball past his own keeper. With Paul Konchesky switching off, Aaron Lennon had a clear run on goal and took the chance well with time running out.
Another 2-1 defeat at White Hart Lane. Seems to be the usual score line down there for us. Though our attention quickly went from self pity to that of the FA Cup draw.
It’s one of the biggest days in the football calendar for all football fans and what better way to top off that day than get Man United at Old Trafford. It’s already got Kopites all over the world talking.
A true mouth watering tie that would befit any final. But unfortunately Man United won’t be reaching the final this year so we’ll just have to another side in the final against us. (and lose).