Liverpool could be secretly hoping for Portsmouth to go bust as they have most to gain should Pompey's record this season be expunged, reports the Daily Mirror.
That would be the worst possible outcome for the League, ready to
impose its nine-point penalty the moment they enter administration,
which seems the nightmare best-case scenario for the club.
Liquidation though would transform the look of the table - and could make Liverpool's Christmas loss at Fratton Park, bizarrely, one of their best results of the entire campaign.
If Pompey go bust and out of business, then all their results
would be expunged, leaving a 19-club league and a season reduced to 36
official matches.
The consequences would be dramatic at both ends of the table, with Liverpool, Wolves, Wigan and Burnley,
the four teams who have conspired to lose to Pompey this season, the
ones with most to gain as their rivals lose up to six points.
Rafa Benitez'
men would stand third in the revised table on their current tally of 44
points, a point ahead of the Gunners, with Spurs three further points
adrift in third and Manchester City another two behind, albeit with two games in hand.
At the bottom, the effect would be equally graphic.
West Ham,
currently a point off safety, would suddenly plummet four points and
two places to the foot of the table, six points adrift of safety.
This is how the Premier League table would look if Portsmouth went out of business (@10/02/10):
PTS
Chelsea 55
Manchester United 50
Liverpool 44
Arsenal 43
Tottenham 40
Manchester City 38
Aston Villa 38
Birmingham 34
Everton 29
Fulham 28
Stoke 27
Blackburn 25
Sunderland 24
Wigan 24
Burnley 23
Hull 23
Wolves 21
Bolton 19
West Ham 17
http://www.tribalfootball.com/portsmouth-go-bust-liverpool-go-third-634551
Ok, c'est tribalfootball, pas très fiable comme source mais on a toujours le droit de rêver!! Arsenaze perdrait ainsi 6 points (2 victoires contre Pompey et on gagnerait 3 points) et on se retrouverait avec 1 point de plus que les Gunners et plus dans la course au titre!
Alors tous pour que Pompey s'ecroule?