After a hard-fought victory over Newcastle United in the domestic league, Arsenal also managed to move into the semi-finals of the League Cup, earlier this week. They now have a great chance of moving into the 4th place in the points table, when they welcome Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool to the Emirates, on a Friday night kick-off this weekend.
The Gunners fell to a 4-0 loss in the reverse fixture earlier this week and also lost the corresponding fixture last season 4-3, which was played on the first matchday of the previous season. However, the Arsene Wenger’s side will be high on confidence, coming off a decent run of results and will look to do all it takes to register a victory.
Liverpool, on the other hand, were not a part of the League Cup fixtures earlier this week and have last played a game on Sunday. The extra rest will certainly help and their unbeaten run in the last 12 games in all competitions, will certainly spice things up in this tie.
Both teams will go into this game, searching for a victory and the fact that Klopp’s side have scored a minimum of three goals in every outing against Arsenal shows that this game will be a high scoring thriller. Here is the preview, team news, predicted lineups and odds for this crunch clash on Friday.
Team News:
Arsenal:
The Gunners are still without the services of midfielders Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey, who are both out injured. However, the duo of Francis Coquelin and Shkodran Mustafi are both expected to be back in action this weekend. Wenger has used a 4-man defence in recent games and is expected to stick with it for this game as well.
Expected lineup (4-2-3-1):
Cech; Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi, Kolasinac; Xhaka, Elneny; Ozil, Wilshere, Sanchez; Lacazette
Liverpool:
Jurgen Klopp confirmed that defender Alberto Moreno and striker Daniel Sturridge are both doubtful for this game. They are ready to welcome back Emre Can from suspension and Joel Matip, who is back in training. However, Dejan Lovren and Ragnar Klavan have done an excellent job at the back for Liverpool in recent games and could retain their places at the heart of the defence for their side. With a couple of extra days of rest, Liverpool are expected to go with their strongest XI.
Expected lineup (4-3-3):
Mignolet; Gomez, Lovren, Klavan, Robertson; Henderson, Wijnaldum, Coutinho; Salah, Firmino, Mane
Betting Odds:
Arsenal: 7/5
Draw: 13/5
Liverpool: 7/4
Predictions:
Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool
