Arsenal vs. Liverpool
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Kick off: 6:30PM
Two of the top four in the Premier League will face off this evening when Arsenal welcome Liverpool to the Emirates Stadium.
Just two places and four points separate the two teams going into the weekend, with both enjoying impressive unbeaten streaks which they will be putting on the line.
Things have been going very well for Unai Emery at Arsenal so far, but Saturday’s visit of Liverpool will be a good marker of exactly where the Gunners are in their post-Arsene Wenger transition.
Most fans would have taken their current position at this stage of the season, sitting fourth in the table and only four points off the top two following back-to-back finishes outside the Champions League places.
Confidence both in the team and in the stands has certainly grown in recent months, with Arsenal unbeaten in their last 13 matches across all competitions and winning 12 of those.
It is an impressive record regardless of the opposition, but question marks still remain over whether the Gunners are genuine top-four – or even title – contenders considering they have not been tested against one of their direct rivals since matchday two of the season.
At that stage things looked a lot more concerning, with Arsenal losing at home to Manchester City – a lot more comfortably than the 2-0 scoreline suggests too – and then going down 3-2 at the hands of Chelsea the following weekend.
Liverpool are the only other team currently above them in the table, and Emery will know that his side need a big result against a big team to truly convince the masses that they are a force to be reckoned with once again.
Whether that occurs this weekend remains to be seen, but there are more reasons for trepidation than optimism ahead of this match, despite the recent run of results.
The Gunners have conceded more goals than any other team in the top seven of the table, and there are lingering concerns that they have got off lightly by only letting in 13 from their 10 matches so far. A team with the attacking talents of Liverpool seem well equipped to expose some of the flaws which have perhaps previously gone unpunished.
Even Wednesday’s EFL Cup win over League One also-rans Blackpool was not straightforward, although they held on with 10 men to set up a North London derby quarter-final against Tottenham Hotspur.
There was London opposition in their most recent Premier League outing too, when a pair of Crystal Palace penalties saw Arsenal’s 11-match winning streak across all competitions finally ended at Selhurst Park.
Arsenal have won all seven of their home games in all competitions since their opening-day defeat to Man City, though, and they have not been beaten by a visiting team other than the Premier League champions since February’s Europa League defeat to Ostersunds.
The visit of Liverpool poses arguably their toughest test since the Man City clash, though, and the result on Saturday could tell us a lot about how high Arsenal should be aiming this season.
Arsenal possible XI: Leno, Lichtsteiner, Holding, Mustafi, Xhaka, Torreira, Ramsey, Iwobi, Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette.
Liverpool possible XI: Alisson, Gomez, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson, Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Salah, Firmino, Mane.