Premier League Preview 2011-12: Liverpool

Best title odds: 12/1 - Coral
Best odds on a top 4 finish: 11/10 - SkyBet
Last season: 6th
Manager: Kenny Dalglish

Good news:

His name is Kenny Dalglish. Everything has started to look rosier at Anfield since the day the prodigal son returned. This is the time when the Carroll-Suarez partnership can really start to flourish. Downing, Henderson and Adam have arrived to help provide the service. Nobody will care about the eyebrow raising fees if the Reds start to look like title contenders again, or at least get back in the Champions League. The only major departure, Fernando Torres, has been a flop, which always helps get over the loss.

Bad news:

Steven Gerrard is still having injury problems and will miss the start of the season, as he did the end of the last; at 31-years-old can we assume his best days are behind him now? At 33, Jamie Carragher is another stalwart who is surely winding down. The ‘King Kenny’ feel-good factor may dissipate somewhat when the harsh reality dawns that Champions League qualification is incredibly hard to come by these days.

Remember when:

People said that Kenny Dalglish wasn’t going to come in, wave a magic wand, and make everything great? Well, apparently that was exactly what he was going to do.

Verdict:

A club certainly heading in the right direction again. Liverpool were never going to be hanging around the bottom half of the table for very long, but the next step is the hardest. Every position up from sixth is a major hurdle to overcome. The lack of European football should be a blessing in diguise, athough that should be a one-time only assessment. The primary focus will be on league matters, unlike all their rivals; that could be decisive.

Prediction: 4th