I know the Liverpool posts haven’t exactly been regular this season but I couldn’t let this week go by without talking about the treble. No, I don’t mean the 2001 FA Cup Final when Michael Owen beat Arsenal on his own; over the next 7 days Liverpool are going to face Arsenal 3 times.

The first of these games is tonight (19:45 kick-off on RTÉ 2 and Sky Sports 2). It’s Arsenal Vs. Liverpool in the first leg of the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Champions League. As usual I would encourage any non-football fan to watch this too as this tie could go either way and is sure to be exciting.

Arsenal are the favourites. They have dominated Liverpool in the Premier League for a decade and knocked them out of both domestic cups last season so I guess that’s fair enough. No! When it comes to the Champions League it’s a very different story!

Since Rafa Benitez took over as Liverpool manager they have overcome Monaco (who were then the previous season’s runner-up), Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, Chelsea (3 times), AC Millan, Barcelona, and Inter Milan in the Champions League. Each one of those were made favourites despite the continuing success, which included lifting the coveted trophy in 2005 and being runners-up in 2007. When you add the fact Liverpool have had great success in Europe before Benitez arrived and have in fact won this trophy 5 times (compared to Arsenal’s 0) you begin to wonder why Arsen Wenger’s men, who lost the UEFA Cup Final in 2000 and the Champions League Final in 2006, are the favourites at all.

Of course to attempt to answer that question would take me away from the game in hand so I’ll leave that to another day. I’ll just say that a lot of the current sports journalists and ex-players had to put up with Liverpool dominating on all fronts through the 70’s and 80’s.

Tonights game is a fascinating tie. Arsenal are at home first and know what the Liverpool crowd can do in the second leg. They have had a good season so far but their young squad is starting to crack under the pressure now. While they still play wonderful football, I feel they have lost some of their free flowing ways with the departure of Henry and the introduction of Adebayor. They are a more consistent team and have the extra dimensions to their game that make them harder to beat. Last season Arsenal’s young players beat Liverpool 6-3 in the Carling Cup and Liverpool beat Arsenal 4-1 in the league thanks to a Peter Crouch hat-trick. This tie could go that way, but I suspect that tonight we are looking at a 0-0 or a 1-1 with both managers feeling their way through this complicated tactical battle.

Over the 2 legs I believe Liverpool will beat Arsenal. Even in the first leg provides a winner, both teams are more than capable of over turning the advantage in the second leg. What baring the league game this weekend that sits inbetween the two ties will have remains to be seen but it will be fascinating viewing.

Peter Crouch had not been seen in a Liverpool shirt for a couple of games, until he made a late token appearance against Everton last Sunday. I expect him to have a bearing on this saga though.

Tonight’s predicted Liverpool line-up;