After the recent defeats to QPR and Wigan, most Liverpool fans will be in despair at the downturn in results and peformances by our club.
All of a sudden, there are questions over Kenny Dalglish's future, the players he bought and the lowly position of 7th in the Premier League in which we find ourselves.
Yes, there are reasons to be despondent as we look likely to miss out on 4th again, denying us the Champion's League spot yet again.
Doubts must also be expressed at the poor performances of Kenny Dalglish's signings of Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam.
Yet, we have already won the Carling Cup, are in the FA Cup semi-final against fellow Merseysiders in Everton on 14 April at the new Wembley and we are guarented Europa League football already next Season.
So, a mixed Season for Liverpool, we need a new striker, thats all.
Well, here is my predicted line-up v Wigan Athletic today at 3pm. Charlie Adam is apparantly ruled out for the rest of the season with knee ligament damage at QPR during the week. It means another start for Jay Spearing at midfield alongside inspirational Captain Steven Gerrard, should be enough to hold Martinez' side who are in a relagation dog-fight at the foot of the table.
Lets hope for a Liverpool win 3-1 I make it, though I could be wrong.
Its on Setanta Sports outside the Uk, so they will have the streaming rights, if you can find them
After the bizzare defeat to QPR at Loftus road on Wednesday night, it now looks inevitable that Liverpool will not finish fourth and will not secure Champions League football for next Season.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad performance by Liverpool in a game in which we dominated for long periods. Yet, after going two goals up through a Coates wonder-strike and a prod-in from Dirk Kuyt on 77 mins, it seemed as if Liverpool had won all three points against a QPR side struggling at the foot of the table.
I don't blame Liverpool or Kenny too much for this defeat but we must buy a prolific striker for next season if we want to beat these kind of teams and finish top of the League.
Liverpool produced a gritty and commanding performance against dogged and determined Stoke City on Sunday afternoon in the FA Cup quarter-final tie at Anfield to progress to the semi-finals where they will have a home tie against either Everton or Sunderland.
Fine individual goals from Luis Suarez and Stewart Downing set the seal on a terrific day in front of the kop.
A headed goal by former-red, Peter Crouch from a disputed corner was all Tony Pulis's men could muster as Liverpool dominated the game from start to finish.
Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish gave us his thoughts ahead of tonights crunch League derby with Everton at Anfield.
For us it's a massive game," Dalglish admitted.
"It's a great game to play in and there will be a fantastic atmosphere. Anybody involved in football knows derby matches are special.
"We know how big it is and how much enjoyment the people get from winning it.
"If you win you get to enjoy it and you get the bragging rights for the city. But both teams come straight out of it into FA Cup sixth round ties at the weekend.
"There's not much time to sit back and rest on your laurels and neither would you want to. But I'm sure everyone would get a fair bit of enjoyment from a positive result.
"Everyone has to take responsibility and everyone needs to stand up and be counted. Let's stand together and see what we can do."
Despite the Reds' recent run of defeats in the Premier League, the boss insists there's no cause for alarm.
"It's certainly not a record you expect from Liverpool," he said.
"We don't want to get into the habit of losing games, but in between the losses we won the Carling Cup.
"We've never gloated when we've won so we won't hang ourselves when we've lost. No-one is feeling sorry for themselves.
"Both against Arsenal and Sunderland we deserved more than what we got. They were different performances but we were playing different teams in different conditions. For all the attributes Sunderland had we more than matched them. We had 56% possession and they had one shot on target which they made the most of.
"They got a bit of luck with their goal and if you are going to win games you always need a bit of good fortune at some stage.
"We wanted to progress this season and we have progressed. We've also got a stronger squad this year than we had last year, but we've got to put points on the board.
"We just need to keep believing in ourselves and keep pushing forward."
Liverpool go into the game having lost to Man Utd, Arsenal(unluckily) and Sunderland last Saturday and it was that result and performance that has the critics out in force.
While David Moyes celebrates ten years in charge of Everton on the back of a nine-match unbeaten run culminating in the 1-0 victory over 3rd place Spurs.
Expect a frantic derby with Liverpool to return to winning ways with a 2-1 win.
Its very hard to predict a Liverpool team these days under Kenny Dalglish as he does have a number of options open to him from the squad (apart from a quality Striker).
But thats my stab at it, I chose Spearing instead of Henderson as Sunderland have become a very dogged team under Martin O'Neill.
Sunderland have won only two of their 21 Premier League encounters with Liverpool.
This will be the 150th league game between the two sides.
Liverpool have won 66, Sunderland 50, with 33 draws.
Liverpool have won four of their last five visits to the Stadium of Light.
Martin O'Neill has won just one of his last eight Premier League games against Liverpool - a 3-1 victory for Aston Villa in August 2009.
Sunderland have conceded seven goals in their last three league games, after three consecutive clean sheets.
The Black Cats have won five out of nine Premier League games without the suspended Lee Cattermole in the side this season, as opposed to four out of 18 when he has played.
Sebastian Larsson is one short of 25 Premier League goals, but has not scored in his last 11 league games. Michael Turner is in line to make his 100th Premier League start, while Matt Kilgallon could make his 250th club career appearance.
Liverpool have lost their last two Premier League games - they have not lost three in a row since October 2003.
The Reds have missed four penalties in the league this season, more than any other team in the division. One of those penalties was missed by Luis Suarez in the opening game of the season against Sunderland.
If they lose it will be Kenny Dalglish's 100th league defeat as a manager.
They have won just one of seven Premier League games in 2012; the equal fewest wins in the division this year. Liverpool have hit the woodwork 21 times in the Premier League this season - more than any other side. Craig Bellamy has scored six Premier League goals for four different clubs against Sunderland.
Lets hope for a welcome win at the Stadium of Light, 2-1, with Suarez and Bellamy both to score.
Liverpool face fighters Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in the Premier League this Saturday at 3:00pm.
Under Martin O'Neill's stewardship, the Black Cats/ Makems have climbed up to 12th in the Premiership Table with 34 points, five behind Liverpool on 39 pts.
Recent results for Sunderland include a 2-0 victory over Swansea and a 3-0 drubbing of Norwich City.
Sunderland can boast of the fact that they have foward James Mc Clean, Nicklas Bendtner,once of Arsenal and Simon Mignolet in good form in goal for O'Neill's team.
It will require a totally committed performance by Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool, to defeat these warriors so I would go with Spearing, Adam & Henderson plus Captain Steven Gerrard, if fit, in midfield.
Liverpool still have not recaptured their form of the second half of last season when they galliantly finished 6th having Kenny Dalglish take over for the dour football played under defensive Manager, Roy Hodgson. Kenny Dalglish was appointed Liverpool Manager and he went attack all the way and Liverpool finished a creditable 6th last Season.
PREMIER LEAGUE 2011
TEAMS
POINTS
1
MAN UTD
80
2
CHELSEA
71
3
MAN CITY
71
4
ARSENAL
68
5
SPURS
62
6
LIVERPOOL
58
However, this Season has seen far too many draws, it points to a lack of goal-scoring ability among the forwards that we have and it has cost us in the League and may cost us in the FA Cup aswell. A return to the Champions League position's now looks a forlorn hope and unless we sign a decent striker in the Summer, it will remain the same.
Following Liverpool's heart-breaking defeat at home to a late,late Van Persie shot even the Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny admitted they stole the game.
"We got away with murder at half-time because in the first-half we got killed all over the park," said the Pole.
"We were really lucky to come in at 1-1 but used that to our advantage, defended very well in the second half and came away with a late winner."
Prior to last weekend's victory over Tottenham , the Gunners were 10 points behind their north London rivals, who seemed assured of third place in this season's Premier League.
But their second successive win reduced the deficit to four points, with Spurs facing a difficult match at home to Manchester United on Sunday. "It's a massive win," said Szczesny, who made a string of fine saves. "It's a little bit harsh on Liverpool because they played really well for 90 minutes but there were games this season when we deserved to win and lost."
There is no doubt that it was a depressing defeat against the run of play and makes Liverpool outsiders now in the race for fourth place.
The lack of a top-quality striker was yet again the most obvious deficiency in Liverpool's side.
Liverpool face Arsenal today at 12:45am BST in a crunch match for both teams chasing fourth spot in the League.
Arsenal's Robin Van Persie and Thomas Vermaulan both face late fitness tests after picking up injuries on International duty mid-week.
Steven Gerrard was also taken off on 35 mins for England as a precaution and remains a serious doubt for the game with a slight hamstring strain.
Liverpool have won just one of the last nine league meetings between the two sides - August's 2-0 victory at the Emirates; six of those nine games ended in draws.
Liverpool have not done a league double over Arsenal in a season since 1999-2000.
Kenny Dalglish's side are two short of 250 league goals against the Gunners. This will be Kenny Dalglish's 450th top-flight match as a manager - his record with Liverpool, Blackburn and Newcastle stands at W247, D115, L87.
Their last two home league games ended in goalless draws, meaning they are still waiting to score their first Premier League goal at Anfield in 2012. They have never drawn three consecutive home games 0-0 in top-flight history.
Liverpool are unbeaten at Anfield in the Premier League this season but have won just four of their 12 league home games.
The eight league draws they have collected at Anfield this season are more than they recorded in 2009-10 (3) and 2010-11 (4) combined.
Only Manchester City have conceded fewer goals (6) at home in the Premier League than Liverpool (8).
The Reds have won just two of their last nine league games.
Arsenal have scored more goals (53) after 26 games this season than they had at the same stage during the 'Invincibles' season of 2003/04 (51).
They are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games.
The Gunners have conceded more goals at Anfield (36) than any other away ground in the Premier League.
Arsene Wenger's side have scored 18 Premier League goals so far in 2012 - more than any other side.
This match will define Liverpool's Premiership Season, Chamion's League or Europa League football next year.
Lets hope for a repeat of the 2-0 win at The Emirates with Suarez, Carroll and Bellamy among the goals.
After Liverpool's victory in the Carling Cup Final v Cardiff last Sunday, all thoughts now go towards facing Arsenal at Anfield this weekend.
Arsenal currently lie in fourth on 43 points yet others in the media seek to castigate their performances, especially after their humiliation in the Champion's League.
However, they remain a dangerous animal against Liverpool this Saturday afternoon. Robin Van Persie has scored 29 goals in 35 appearances for the Gunners so far this Season, a phenominal record. He has almost, single-handly keep Arsenal in contention for Europe on his own. Young Theo Walcott with his lightening pace has provided much of the impetus for Arsenal's goals this Season. Marshall Van Persie and Walcott at the back and you have a great chance of winning the game through Suarez, Bellamy or Kuyt which gives us a good chance of entering the Champion's League equation.
After the recent defeats to QPR and Wigan, most Liverpool fans will be in despair at the downturn in results and peformances by our club.
Liverpool face fighters Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in the Premier League this Saturday at 3:00pm. 
