Arsenal vs Liverpool
Venue: The Emirates Stadium
Kick off: 12:45pm
The fascinating race for the top four goes through a potentially pivotal checkpoint on Saturday (today) when Arsenal host Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium.
In the first Premier League game after the international break, the Gunners have the chance to temporarily climb above Manchester City into second and put nine points between themselves and the fifth-placed Reds on the table.
A run of 13 wins in 14 domestic games has allowed the Gunners to largely gloss over another Champions League disappointment and position themselves strongly for the season run-in.
Their home form has been excellent too, having not dropped a Premier League point at the Emirates since November.
Their five league games on their own patch since the turn of the year have yielded 15 goals and only one conceded.
Arsenal must still be wary, though, that not all is said and done in the top-four race yet.
Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton and their opponents this weekend especially are not going to give up their Champions League hopes lightly.
The past two weeks have not been easy for Liverpool fans.
They have had to stew on a 2-1 defeat to fierce rivals, Manchester United, in which their adored captain got himself sensationally sent off, and then watch several of their key players report back early from international duty with injury.
To make matters worse, one of those players, tipped to be a vital part of the post-Steven Gerrard team, Raheem Sterling, has been alarmingly non-committal and has delayed talks over a new deal until the summer.
If Arsenal are enjoying their home comforts, Liverpool are the happiest travellers in the division, having won five of their last six away games and not conceded a single goal during that unbeaten sequence.
The Reds have Blackburn Rovers in an FA Cup quarter-final replay on Wednesday, but this is probably a more important game as defeat would almost certainly end their chances of catching Arsenal, and potentially their top-four hopes too.
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Ospina; Bellerin, Koscielny, Gabriel, Gibbs; Ramsey, Coquelin; Sanchez, Cazorla, Ozil; Giroud
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Mignolet; Can, Lovren, Sakho; Johnson, Allen, Henderson, Moreno; Coutinho, Sterling, Sturridge.
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