No matter how pathetic Liverpool were against Leicester City, Hull City and Swansea City, their record against the top six has been immensely impressive and Arsenal would visit Anfield keeping that in mind. The Gunners have collected 21 points from 12 games away from home, which is the fifth-best record in the league, and the Gunners are expected to put up a good fight when they visit Anfield this Saturday.
Defence
Petr Cech will once again take his position under the bar in the big fixture. The former Czech international has had a long break since Arsenal’s comfortable win over Hull City last month.
The left-flank is expected to be taken by Kieran Gibbs. Although the experienced Nacho Monreal has been quite assured in that position and even had a good game away to Sutton United, Liverpool’s only weapon against Arsenal would be to outpace them on the flanks and Wenger should be banking on someone with more fuel in his engine. Hector Bellerin should start on the right-flank. Centre-half Gabriel Paulista started there the last game and the agile wing-back should be well rested and raring to go by now.
The centre-half duo is likely to be Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi. Koscielny is likely to be to fit for the crunch clash at Anfield after his mild injury that he incurred against Bayern Munich. After their disastrous display away at Allianz Arena, they would be hoping for a better display this time.
Midfield
Mohamed Elneny is unlikely to feature in the game as he is recovering from the ankle injury that he suffered from playing on Sutton’s artificial turf. The central midfield duo is expected to be Granit Xhaka, who has just returned after serving his red-card suspension, and Francis Coquelin. Coquelin had a nightmarish game away at Germany and he will be looking to get his confidence back.
Aaron Ramsey has returned from his calf injury that kept him out of the game for a month but is expected to start from the bench. In the playmaker’s role, Mesut Ozil is expected to start. The German midfielder has come under heavy criticism since his non-existent display against Bayern and was given a long rest as he was recovering from a back injury. He will have to prove his critics wrong now.
Attack
Theo Walcott reached his 100 goal landmark for the club in the last game against Sutton United and is expected to keep his position on the right-flank. Alexis Sanchez should start on the left wing this time. Although Arsenal can press ideally with Sanchez up front, Liverpool are expected to already prepare for it.
Olivier Giroud should start spearheading the attack from the centre and considering his impressive record against the top six so far, he should hit the target again this time.
