Time is right for Liverpool

By Patrick Hart

Never write off Liverpool FC. It is a lesson many non-Liverpudlians had to learn the hard way during the English club's halcyon days of the 1970s and 80s, when late goals were a Liverpool speciality.

In decline
Accordingly, it will have stood observers of a certain vintage in good stead at a time, less than a month ago, when Liverpool's season appeared to be in terminal decline.

Good and bad
The Reds' 2-1 defeat at struggling Birmingham City FC on 23 February was a low point in a campaign marked by inconsistency. In the autumn, Gérard Houllier's side had been consistently good, seven straight wins taking them into November as the Premiership's top team. But then they went eleven league games without a victory.

Change of luck
Since losing at Birmingham, though, there has been an upturn in fortunes at Anfield. A nervous first half against AJ Auxerre in their UEFA Cup fourth round second-leg tie gave way to a comfortable 2-0 victory, 3-0 on aggregate. Crucially, the turning point was a Michael Owen goal, and the England striker went on to register in the League Cup final win against Manchester United FC that followed.

Form players
Owen has subsequently chalked up five goals in six outings, while Liverpool's other scorer at Cardiff, midfield player Steven Gerrard, also looks back to his best. Gerrard's powerful running was a feature of last week's 1-1 draw at Celtic FC in the quarter-final first leg, and it was from a typical forward burst that he got the deciding goal in Sunday's 3-2 Premiership success at Tottenham Hotspur FC.

Back in contention
Suddenly, with three consecutive league wins behind them, Liverpool are back in contention for a UEFA Champions League place - lying two points off the Premiership's coveted fourth position. And with the advantage of Emile Heskey's away goal in Glasgow, they can also have ambitions of a famous cup double.

Reviving effect
It is a familiar scenario for the Merseysiders. Two years ago, the spring months had a similar, reviving effect on Liverpool. In a memorable run-in, they lifted both domestic cups and the UEFA Cup as well as winning six of their last seven league games to qualify for the Champions League.

Cup hopefuls
Houllier said: "There have been some great games at this time of year in the past and I hope Thursday is just the same. It seems that this is a special month for us." Owen, meanwhile, said: "It would be nice to add a second UEFA Cup win to my CV. There are few players who get a chance to win the UEFA Cup and even fewer who go on to win it twice."

Celtic focus
If the cups have been the catalyst for Liverpool, they could yet leave a huge dent in Celtic's season. Martin O'Neill's men lost one final, in the Scottish League Cup, to Rangers FC on Sunday, and now travel south for a match of equal magnitude. Striker Henrik Larsson said: "Everyone is disappointed at losing to Rangers but there is no way we can dwell on it because we have a very big match against Liverpool. We know we have to go to Anfield and get a result, and that's now the focus."

Good timing
No less damaging to Celtic was Chris Sutton's broken wrist against Rangers, which deprives O'Neill of a key forward for six weeks. By contrast, Houllier has only to contend with the absence through suspension of El Hadji Diouf. Luckily for him, the Celtic manager was a midfield player with Liverpool's rivals Nottingham Forest FC in the 1970s, so he already knows a thing or two about his opponents' famously good timing.