Tomorrow sees us travel to Anfield in what will be one of the matches of the season. Here is how I see it panning out.
I believe both teams will play a variation of the 4-3-3 formation. Defensively you have to say Liverpool are much stronger although their full backs, while great going forward, do have a tendency to get caught too high up the pitch. Alexander-Arnold is the worst for this and he is definitely their weak link at the back so we need to exploit this, possibly using Aubameyang on the left to run into the space behind.
Obviously they have problems in goal with Adrian filling in for the injured Allison so we need to get plenty of shots away and be ready to follow them in as he will parry most of them.
At the other end of the pitch our full backs will have their work cut out dealing with Salah and, in particular, Mane, who is the best in the league at the moment. Firmino will drop deeper into the hole so I expect David Luiz to go tight on him leaving Sokratis spare to help out the full backs. Firmino of course scored a hat-trick in this fixture last season and has 8 goals in 8 appearances against us so keeping him quiet will be crucial.
In midfield we probably have the edge. With Xhaka back in the squad I'd expect him to start alongside Willock, with Ceballos further forward. They'll be coming up against Henderson and Wijnaldum, with either Fabinho or The Ox the more advanced of their three.
Liverpool tend to by-pass the midfield looking for long diagonals to the advancing full backs or the wide forwards so if we can play through the middle we can really hurt them. Get Ceballos on the ball and we can get them turning back towards their own goal.
As long as we deal with their high press it could leave spaces in behind for us to exploit. Van Djik tends to sit off as he always fancies himself in a one on one but then again he won't have met our front three before. Lacazette can match him physically so we need to get Aubameyang and Pepe in and around him when he has the ball at his feet.
Of course getting a result will be no easy task for us. Liverpool have not lost at Anfield in the Premier League since April 2017, a run of 41 matches. Of those they have won 31 and kept 26 clean sheets. They have also lost just one of their last 42 matches in all competitions, winning 33 of them.
History is not on our side either. Liverpool are unbeaten in our last eight meetings, since April 2014, and we have conceded 22 goals in our last six visits to Anfield.
But they have looked vulnerable in the opening two matches, especially in their last home match against Norwich, who created several good chances against a rather flat Liverpool defence. The key will be to make sure we take ours when they come along.
So in conclusion I think there will certainly be goals. We can't keep a clean sheet against their attack but can they keep us out? If we are fully concentrated for 90 minutes I believe we can get something from this match. A win? That would be great of course but I'm more inclined to go for a high scoring draw. Either way it should be the match of the season so far.
Predicted line ups -
Liverpool - Adrian - Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Djik, Robertson - Wijnaldum, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain - Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Arsenal - Leno - Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, David Luiz, Monreal - Xhaka, Willock, Ceballos - Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang.
Referee - Anthony Taylor
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