There is a heavyweight Premier League showdown taking place at the Emirates on Sunday as Liverpool bid to stretch their lead at the summit and in the process put an end to Arsenal’s fading title hopes.
The Reds are five points ahead of Arsenal in the table and victory in north London would stretch them eight points clear of the Gunners, which should then make it a straight shootout between them and Manchester City for title honours.
However, Mikel Arteta’s side have settled their nerves with back-to-back league wins over Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest and, having shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at Anfield in December, will believe they can utilise home advantage against a Mohamed Salah-less Liverpool.
- Arsenal to win
- Joe Gomez to be shown a card
- Gabriel Jesus to score at any time
Arsenal May Exact Their Revenge
Having lost 2-0 at home to Liverpool in the FA Cup third round at the start of January, Arsenal will be seeking revenge and defeat would be fatal to their title aspirations.
However, changes were made by both sides in that cup clash and, despite what the scoreline suggests, the Gunners were the better team.
Arteta’s men were punished for a host of missed first-half chances - they won the final shot count 18-12 - as they conceded twice from the 80th-minute onwards.
A lack of composure in the final third is nothing new for Arsenal this season but they continue to carve out plenty of goalscoring opportunities and recent wins over Palace and Forest, where they netted seven goals in total, should have restored some confidence.
Arsenal have won eight of their 11 home league games this season, losing only once, and they rose to the challenge to defeat visiting Manchester City 1-0 in October.
Liverpool do arrive in the capital unbeaten in 15 league games but they’ve failed to win on trips to Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City this season, while also being frustrated in draws at home to Manchester United and the Gunners.
Saka Can Exploit Liverpool’s Left
Liverpool have collected four yellow cards in two of their last three meetings with Arsenal, including on their recent FA Cup trip, and one Red that could fall foul to the referee is Joe Gomez.
Gomez has performed exceptionally well while covering for Andy Robertson and Konstantinos Tsimikas at left-back and, although Robertson has returned from injury with substitute appearances against Norwich and Chelsea, it may be difficult to throw him into the starting line-up for this fixture.
Playing left-back against Arsenal means one thing, coming up against the tricky Bukayo Saka, and the Arsenal ace has been fouled 45 times in the Premier League this season, which is an average of over two per game.
Gomez was booked in this corresponding league fixture last term and he looks like another likely card candidate at the Emirates. If Robertson gets the nod, he’d also make plenty of appeal.
Jesus Could Stay On Scoring Trail
Gabriel Jesus gets plenty of stick for being far from the out-and-out striker Arsenal are in need of, but the Brazilian has eight goals from 23 appearances this season.
Jesus was on the scoresheet in Tuesday’s 2-1 win away at Nottingham Forest and, having had 43 shots this season, he should get plenty of opportunity to build on that against Liverpool, who have kept only three clean sheets across their last ten matches in all competitions.
The former Manchester City man did get on the scoresheet in a 2-2 draw against Liverpool at Anfield last season and he could repeat the trick at the Emirates.
GABRIEL JESUS TO SCORE ANY TIME
