Source: Liverpool_Echo
IAN RUSH: Liverpool FC can emerge from their bleak mid-winter to go fourth
RAFA BENITEZ was quick to look for positives after Saturday's draw at Blackburn but, for some people, that is not good enough.[LNB]The critics see another two points dropped as the latest reason for believing that Liverpool's world is about to come crashing down and that the situation is bleak.[LNB]Yet just have a look at the Premier League table and you will see that we are just four points behind third placed Arsenal with a game against them coming up this weekend at Anfield - the situation is only bleak because the standards Liverpool have set through the years are so high.[LNB]When our levels of performance drop a bar or two, it becomes noticeable yet here we are still in their fighting for a place in the top four, knowing that we are traditionally a better team after Christmas.[LNB]True, there is no escaping the fact that Liverpool are not playing with the kind of fluency you would expect, while the biggest disappointment of all is that we are 12 points off current table-toppers Chelsea.[LNB]I'm convinced, though, we will finish the season in fourth and there is no better time than Christmas for a team to lay down a statement of intent.[LNB]A good result against Arsenal would tee things up nicely to go into a run of fixtures that sees us face Wigan, Portsmouth and then Wolves on Boxing Day before what is sure to be a searching examination at Villa Park.[LNB]That we are unbeaten in six games and have kept clean sheets in the last three offers encouragement that the tide is beginning to turn and time might just prove that the point we got at Ewood Park at the weekend turns out to be a good one.[LNB]Blackburn, remember, went into the game on a high after knocking Chelsea out of the Carling Cup and their record under Sam Allardyce on home soil is formidable; despite being short of their best, Liverpool still looked the likelier winners.[LNB]Of course, some won't want to hear it but three clean sheets is a step in the right direction, as it was only a few weeks ago that we had to score twice just to take a point.[LNB]Once Rafa has his first choice starting line-up available, Liverpool will climb to a position with which they are more familiar - and the doom and gloom will disappear for good.
