Blog: Results is what matters at this stage
As Liverpool get ready to take on Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Monday night, this guest blog by Liverpool fan Donavan Chandler looks ahead to the clash and also explains why results are all that matters at this stage of the season so far.
We've every reason to be pleased with Liverpool's start to the new Premier League season.
Two wins from two games, two goals scored and two clean sheets. Brendan Rodgers' side have accumulated six points, and in the tough early weeks following pre-season, it's all we as supporters can ask for.
At this stage, results matter more than complete performances.
Christian Benteke is off the mark in front of goal and our new faces are starting to settle into Anfield life, so the smart assessment is that things can't have gone much better for us. Of course, we'd each love Liverpool to hit the ground running and to be brushing teams aside - even at this stage of the year - but there's such a thing as peaking too soon.
For Liverpool - or any other team in the country, for that matter - time is important. It's critical for our seven new first-team players to learn about the culture, the city, the league in some cases and the club as a whole. It's up to the players to forge an understanding with their new comrades.
And it's a time for our manager to learn about how each player, old and new, can fit into his desired system. It's a time for the foundations to be built, with the benefits hopefully reaped months down the line after new relationships develop.
What's important at this time though, is to take every possible opportunity to rack up early season points. It's about keeping pace with the rivals around us and getting ahead of slow starters. And that's exactly what Liverpool have done. A five point advantage over Premier League champions Chelsea at this stage is only going to be of benefit.
While Benteke's goal put newly-promoted Bournemouth to the sword on Monday, Philippe Coutinho earned Liverpool our first win in a tough visit to Stoke City on the opening weekend of the season.
While our maiden trip away from Anfield was successfully negotiated, next on the agenda are direct rivals Arsenal - in what promises to be one of the most challenging fixtures of the entire campaign.
Liverpool have proven early on this year that they possess the capability to grind out results and while Arsenal represent a greater challenge, we'll need to take encouragement from our recent performances and turn in another resolute showing.
Arsenal are one of the best attacking teams in the country, but provided we can nullify their threats, we as supporters know ourselves that we have the ammunition to cause them a lot of problems.
In Benteke, the brilliant Coutinho and his fellow countryman Roberto Firmino, Liverpool boast a front line comparable to any in the country. Each player has that spark of genius in them capable of unlocking a defence at any given moment, while Liverpool boast electric pace in certain departments. We'll give Arsenal something to think about, to say the least.
We have the ability, but it's up to the players to have belief in themselves that they're able to get the job done. And there's absolutely no reason for us not to be confident given what we've seen from our boys early on this season.
Even the travelling contingent of fans will play their part. It would be wrong not to expect Arsenal to have their moments, but let's help the team overcome them and to give them the confidence they can get the job done.
At times like these and in fixtures like these, it's the result that counts. We're more than capable of getting it, and it's time to remember that.
For more from Donavan, visit www.90min.com.