Liverpool are concentrating entirely on the Premiership – their only chance of winning silverware this season. The quest for the record 19th title - their first one in 19 years will depend, to a large extent, on whether they can do the business against Arsenal at Anfield on Monday night, April 21.

It is not only about winning the title, it is about maintaining the distance between them and chasing rivals Manchester United who are excruciatingly close to equalling their longstanding record of 18 titles.

Liverpool has an advantage for this game, theoretically at least. First, Arsenal will be coming on the back of a morale-wrecking defeat to London rivals Chelsea who crashed them out of the FA Cup on Saturday. Secondly, Rafa Benitez' men have had the entire weekend to prepare for this vital home encounter which could put them back on top of the table, albeit perhaps only temporarily.

The bad news for the Reds, however, is that  captain Steven Gerrard will miss out as he needs another 10 or so days to fully recover from his groin injury, thus it is possible that Benitez will bank on the same line-up that produced the 4-4 thriller at Stamford Bridge a week ago. 

The Gunners will be presented with selection problems of their own before the encounter, as top scorer Emmanuel Adebayor  is still suffering from a hamstring injury which will keep him well sidelined for the trip to Anfield. Other casualties who are sidelined are fullback Gael Clichy (back), William Gallas (knee) and Johan Djourou (knee).

Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna has been reported fit by the Gunners' website and is likely to participate along with fit-again Croatia forward Eduardo.

Regarding the match, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told the BBC that for Arsenal, the Premiership title is still a realistic target this season:

"We have many big games coming up and we feel we can win them. Winning is what we live for. We cannot be happy with only trying to remain fourth. We want to get closer to the top and have a good opportunity to come back to six points on Liverpool." 

"Third place is important, second place is important and why not first? You never know. You do not want to have regrets."

Rafa Benitez, however, insisted that from now until the end, Liverpool have six matches remaining and it is essential that the Reds collect the maximum 18 points from their encounters if they are to have a realistic chance of claiming title number 19. He told the Liverpool club website:

"For us the important thing is to do our job, to prepare properly for every game and look to take three points from each of them," he told Liverpoolfc.tv.
 
"If we do that and then still can't win the league then there's nothing else we can do. It still depends on United, but we have to keep the pressure on them. If we win tonight then we go back to the top and put them under more pressure for tomorrow night.

"They (Arsenal) are a team who always look to play football so I'm not expecting them to defend," he added. "They will try to play against us, but if we can play at our level, with a high tempo, and look to get at them from the first whistle then I am sure we can beat them."