Our picks

PREVIEW: Arsenal vs Liverpool – 03/11/2018

Arsenal vs Liverpool

Date: 03/11/2018

K/O: 17:30

Venue: Emirates

TV: BT Sport

Referee: Andre Marriner

Arsenal host Liverpool in by far the biggest clash of the Premier League this weekend on Saturday evening. Day will turn to night as these sides go head to head in a fixture which has produced 27 goals in their last five Premier League meetings, working out at 5.4 goals per match!

Arsenal will attempt to extend an eight-match unbeaten run in the Premier League (13 in all competitions) and Liverpool still unbeaten in this season’s Premier League, one of those trends may be broken. Arsenal, currently sit in fourth place and narrowly above them is Liverpool in second. A win for the hosts would see them sit only a point behind The Reds after 11 games and that would truly be a fantastic start to Unai Emery’s tenure. A win for Liverpool would see them go seven points clear of The Gunners and remain unbeaten, putting them to the table’s summit with Manchester City and Chelsea still to play on Sunday afternoon.

Unai Emery has been nothing short of a total success thus far with the Spaniard taking Arsenal to newer but more familiar heights this season; a tremendous run of late has seen them win 12 of their last 13 games. The Gunners booked their place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals with a 2-1 victory over Blackpool on Wednesday night and with Emery selecting a much-changed starting eleven for the fixture, the fitness of key players for the Liverpool visit will not be in doubt.

Arsenal will need to be at the top of their game as Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have managed to remain unbeaten in the last five meetings between the sides, winning three of those fixtures; one of which was at The Emirates. Another result for Liverpool this weekend will see Jurgen Klopp equal that of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester Utd, who managed a run of six games without defeat to Arsenal. Jose Mourinho holds the greatest achievement concerning this record with a succession of 12 games.

Liverpool have had an entire week to prepare for this fixture which is something that can’t be said for the rest of the Premier League’s top five. Klopp will have used this to his advantage, giving his Liverpool players a rest but at the same time, he will have drilled into his squad the importance of getting a result in this game. Liverpool know they can score, they’ve managed at least three goals in each of the last five meetings against Arsenal and it’s hard to ignore the Gunners defence, which hasn’t improved much since the sides last met.

This is only the third “big” test in Arsenal’s season, having failed the first two in the opening game weeks against Man City (0-2) and Chelsea (3-2) they have had a reasonably handy run-in which they have flown through nicely. Liverpool are right up there challenging for the Premier League title at this point so this will truly test exactly where Unai Emery’s Arsenal sit with the elite clubs in England. The progress they have made over the last couple of months has been great, but that could be undone if Liverpool pick them apart as they have in recent meetings.

Team News

Arsenal

Hector Bellerin is the freshest injury concern for the Gunners as he was forced off against Crystal Palace at the weekend. He was left out of midweek action against Blackpool and he will most likely be touch and go for this Saturday’s clash. More defensive worries for Arsenal are due to Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac, scheduled to be assessed later in the week and Laurent Koscielny looks to remain sidelined as he steps up his full team training and match sharpness.

Major defensive troubles have seen Arsenal play Granit Xhaka at left-back in the recent weeks which could be another feature this weekend against an inform Mo Salah. Matteo Guendouzi will be missing for selection as well as he picked up a red card against Blackpool midweek which will see him suspended. Predicting Arsenal’s starting line up is tough with all the injury news as well as a breakdown of contract talks for Aaron Ramsey.



Liverpool

Liverpool could be without captain Jordan Henderson as the Englishman suffered a hamstring injury in the match against Huddersfield two weeks previously. Henderson will be assessed towards the end of the week whilst Naby Keita looks likely to miss out with a hamstring injury picked up on international duty. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain remains out for the foreseeable future but other than this, Liverpool have a reasonably fresh squad.

Sadio Mane and Mo Salah seem to both have hand injuries but this shouldn’t prevent them from featuring this weekend. Liverpool’s midfield is the hardest to select, Jurgen Klopp may opt for a more conservative approach, giving Fabinho another start to toughen up the midfield three with Shaqiri waiting for his opportunity to pounce mid-game.

Predicted Starting XI’s:

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Leno; Lichtsteiner, Mustafi, Holding, Xhaka; Torreira, Ramsey; Aubameyang, Ozil, Iwobi; Lacazette

Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Milner; Mane, Firmino, Salah



Score Prediction: Arsenal 2 Liverpool 2

Both sides are on runs that can’t be ignored but I can see this one ending evenly with goals flowing throughout in an end to end matchup. The usual candidates on the scoresheet for both sides but it is Firmino who looks an exciting factor in this one as the Liverpool number nine has registered a goal and an assist in each of the last three encounters.

George (Goliath Tipping)

George, 27, love betting on sports and writing about my beloved LFC!

90MAAT News Now

Premier League Table

90MAAT Social Media

ScoopDragon Football News Network

Search The Site