Liverpool Must Fix Patchy Premier League Home Form vs. Burnley

After disposing of champions Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday, Liverpool host relegation-threatened Burnley on Wednesday evening.

Brendan Rodgers' side must ensure it is not a case of "after the Lord Mayor's show" for the Reds, in a type of game in which the Reds have struggled so far in 2014/15.

That is because, in their six home Premier League games against teams currently in the bottom half of the table, Liverpool have won just one—against West Bromwich Albion in early October.

Those five other games have resulted in four draws and one defeat, scoring just five goals, with an overall goal difference of zero, and seven points from the six games.

Indeed, Liverpool currently have the 17th-best record in the Premier League for home games against the bottom half (via Statto.com)—only Leicester City, Sunderland Crystal Palace have worse records.

Liverpool's home Premier League results vs. current bottom half teams

Lost	0-1	Aston Villa
Drew	1-1	Everton
Won	2-1	West Brom
Drew	0-0	Hull City
Drew	0-0	Sunderland
Drew	2-2	Leicester City

This is a stark contrast to last season, when Liverpool would regularly dispatch of lower-half sides at Anfield, winning nine of their 10 home games (via Statto.com) and amassing 33 goals in the process; 5-1 against Norwich City, 4-0 against Fulham, 3-1 vs Crystal Palace, 4-3 against Swansea City being among the highlights.

This season, only twice have the home side hit more than two goals at Anfield in the Premier League, against Swansea City (4-1) and Tottenham (3-2). Liverpool are 31 goals short of their total of 53 home goals scored last season, with five games to go.

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Rodgers' side enter the midweek fixtures two points behind fourth-placed Manchester United, but due to their vastly inferior goal difference (+10 compared to United's +20 and Southampton's +18), the difference is more like three points.

Clearly, it's goals and dispatching of lower-half teams were Liverpool must improve and make up ground after their disappointing first half of the campaign—four of their remaining five home games are against teams currently in the bottom half, and the other is against Man United.

Home vs. Away

While Rodgers' side have struggled for goals and in overcoming stubborn strugglers like Hull City, Sunderland and Leicester City, that issue hasn't been as prevalent away from home. Their away record is far better, with five wins from eight games, ranking them fifth in the league. Overall, Rodgers' side are 11th in games vs. the bottom half—significantly worse than their competitors for a top-four finish.

So what are the reasons for this difference?

First, opponents at Anfield have arrived happy to sit back, defend in an organised fashion, shut up shop and happy to take away a point, especially the aforementioned case of Hull and Sunderland. Fair enough, perhaps they were keen to avoid being on the receiving end of an attacking masterclass we came so accustomed to seeing at Anfield last season.

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Second, four of these six games so far have seen Rodgers play Mario Balotelli as a lone forward, cutting an increasingly isolated and frustrated figure and devoid of much midfield support.

Alas, the times have now changed and Rodgers seeks to play either Raheem Sterling or Daniel Sturridge up front, supported by the likes of Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho. This way, Liverpool are far more mobile and gain dynamic fluidity in attack.

Burnley

The New Year's Day draw with Leicester City can perhaps be isolated into a one-off game amidst the busy festive fixtures, these results happen.

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So Burnley represents the first match of this kind since Liverpool changed shape in mid-December.

The match against Sean Dyche's extremely hard-working and well coached side will therefore provide an acid test of how this Liverpool side have improved of late.

Can they overcome the Clarets defence as they eventually did in the corresponding fixture on Boxing Day, eventually winning 1-0 courtesy of Sterling's second-half goal, or will they struggle as they did earlier in the campaign?

These are the games Rodgers' side simply must be winning in order to continue their upturn in form and push towards the promised land of a top-four finish.