Liverpool will entertain Arsenal at Anfield on Saturday evening at the back of a fortunate 2-1 win over Southampton last weekend. The Gunners come into this game with a lot of confidence as they still have a 100% winning record after beating Newcastle United and Burnley respectively in the Premier League.
This match has the makings of an exciting contest with the two teams going all out in search of a victory. A chance to go top of the league standings will be at stake. Therefore, neither side would fancy a draw in this weekend’s encounter at Merseyside.
Talking Tactics
The Redmen of Merseyside might set-up in a 4-3-3 formation with Klopp expected to revert to his strongest midfield of Henderson, Fabinho and Wijnaldum. The German manager would want his players to press high up the field so that the home side can dominate the game and enjoy more possession to breakdown the Gunners defence. Divock Origi might get a chance to make an impact off the Liverpool bench if required.
Unai Emery will opt for a 4-2-3-1 set-up and could call upon the services of Nicolas Pepe to add more pace and creativity to his frontline. The Arsenal head coach would hope that his defenders can find a way to stop the Liverpool front three from scoring this weekend.
Team News
Liverpool
Both Naby Keita and Alisson Becker can be ruled out of this game due to injuries. Dejan Lovren is also a major doubt for this weekend and will be in a race against time to be fit in time for this clash at Merseyside.
Liverpool Predicted XI
Adrian; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Virgil Van Dijk, Andrew Robertson; Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Georginio Wijnaldum; Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane
Arsenal
Emery has some key players like Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding and Kieran Tierney sidelined for this game at Anfield. Both Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil will be in for a late fitness test to determine when they can feature versus the Reds tomorrow.
Arsenal Predicted XI
Bernd Leno; Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, David Luiz, Nacho Monreal; Matteo Guendouzi, Granit Xhaka; Nicolas Pepe, Dani Ceballos, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang; Alexandre Lacazette
Key Men
Liverpool
Adrian made a howler against Southampton last weekend, so the Spanish goalie needs to put in a much-improved display against the North London outfit if he wants to secure his first-ever clean sheet as the Liverpool keeper this weekend.
The performance of the Reds midfielders will also be an influential factor in determining the outcome of this match. It’s high time that Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Georginio Wijnaldum started performing at their fullest potential so that they can establish themselves as first-team starters at Anfield this season.
Arsenal
Dani Ceballos needs to have a good game in the Liverpool half as he will responsible for creating some goal-scoring opportunities for the likes of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang up top. Both David Luiz and Sokratis need to form a commanding partnership at the heart of Emery’s backline if they are to keep the Liverpool attackers at bay tomorrow.
Odds
The bookies have made Liverpool a heavy favourite to claim maximum points versus the Gunners on Saturday after they were priced at 1/2. The draw is listed as 18/5 while Arsenal are as big as 11/2 to pull off an upset at Anfield this weekend.
