UNITED KINGDOM: FOOTBALL / SOCCER - Liverpool expect a tough premiership match against Arsenal because the London side never field a weak team, says assistant manager Sammy Lee

Record ID: 784165

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: FOOTBALL / SOCCER - Liverpool expect a tough premiership match against Arsenal because the London side never field a weak team, says assistant manager Sammy Lee
  • Date: 21st April 2009
  • Summary: LONDON, UK (RECENT - APRIL 13, 2009) (REUTERS) LIVERPOOL CAPTAIN STEVEN GERRARD TRAINING BEFORE BEING RULED OUT WITH INJURY
  • Embargoed: 6th May 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA426EYPXGP88JE8MHWYIPGNN95
  • Story Text: Liverpool assistant manager Sammy Lee said on Monday (April 20) that facing Arsenal in a premiership match on Tuesday will be very difficult because the London side never put out a weak team.
    Arsenal will be without leading strikers Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie for the trip to Liverpool, but when Lee was asked at a news conference on Monday about facing a possibly weakened side, the assistant manager replied:
    "Have they got a weaker team have they? I think we've seen them in a number of competitions this year put different rotations in and they've all produced the goods, so we know when we play this side it's going to be a very, very difficult task. They are unbeaten in 18 games I think, aren't they? So I think it's never going to be easy against Arsenal. They'll be well organised.
    I don't think they will be weak in any way, shape or form."
    With six Premier League matches left, Liverpool are in second place, one point behind Manchester United who have a game in hand; fourth-placed Arsenal are 10 points off the top.
    Lee insisted, however, that the task ahead was very difficult.

    "All I know is that, six games remaining, it's going to be very, very tight and all we can do is go out and try and get the maximum out of each and every game that we play in, which will be very, very difficult in itself.
    But we'll keep on in there. The lads are all very, very focussed, very concentrated, they train very, very hard, they know what they've got to do and hopefully we'll be trying to get -- as I said before -- what we can out of each and every game."
    Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has been out for more than a week with a groin injury, missing last week's Champions League quarter-final second leg clash against Chelsea which ended in a 4-4 draw, so the London side went through on aggregate. Gerrard will also miss Tuesday's match.

    "Well at the moment he's in the hands of the medics, you know, he's progressing and we'll just take it from day to day. It's an old football cliche, old sporting cliche, but that's all you can do with injuries,"
    said Lee.
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