Fixture list means Liverpool not totally out of top-four picture

Liverpool may have suffered their first home Premier League defeat of the season against Arsenal, but there are reasons to believe that 8/1 is decent value that they can still finish in the top four by the end of the campaign.

The defeat means that Liverpool are now ten points behind Arsenal in the race for the final Champions League qualification spot, but they do still have a game in hand.

However, it is the potential ease of their run-in over their final 12 Premier League games that gives them considerable hope of still mounting a challenge on the top four.

Of their remaining games, Liverpool have eight against teams who started this weekend in the bottom half of the table, with three coming against clubs in the bottom four of the standings.

Although these fixtures may indeed be harder given that the clubs are likely to be fighting for their Premier League lives, Liverpool’s added quality should still be enough to see them off.

Meanwhile, Liverpool have no remaining fixtures against any of the top four.

This could be seen as a negative as a victory over their rivals in the table are effectively worth six points at this stage of the campaign.

But Liverpool do still have these games in theory against Chelsea and Newcastle that now become must-win encounters and are against supposed weaker opposition in their other fixtures.

Furthermore, they have already defeated Chelsea and Newcastle this season, while having triumphed in their last four games against the Blues in all competitions and six of the last seven against Newcastle.

Meanwhile, they played particularly well against Arsenal, with Luis Suarez showing signs of rediscovering his best form and if he can add some more goals to his game, Liverpool are not without hope.