Liverpool Match Preview

THE CHAMPIONS AWAIT

ARSENAL WILL LOOK to bounce back from Sunday’s disappointing North London derby defeat when newly crowned champions Liverpool visit the Emirates on Wednesday evening.

With European qualification now looking less likely via the league, we may well have our minds fixed firmly on this weekend’s FA Cup semi final clash with Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta certainly hinted at some squad rotation ahead of this meeting with the champions as he said:

“I believe that it is very important to have energy and momentum going into important matches, and in order to do that you have to go game by game.

“Today and tomorrow we will assess the players and how they are, and obviously they’ve been hit and a lot of them have played some crazy minutes up until now and again we’re going to have a game every two and a half days.

“We will try to put the strongest team out as possible here and as well on Saturday, and to do that we need to know how everyone recovers from the game.”

For all Liverpool’s dominance this season they will have to overcome a poor away record at Arsenal if they are to close in on City’s record of 100 points. 

The champions have won just once in their last 23 visits to both Highbury and the Emirates going back over 20 years. That solitary success was a 4-3 victory on the opening day of the 2016-17 season.

On the other side of the coin is the fact that we have not beaten Liverpool in the last 10 meetings in all competitions, losing seven and conceding 31 goals. So, something will have to give.

Earlier this season when the sides met at Anfield both had a 100% record in the league; played two, won two. 

Expectations for Arsenal was high as it saw the first start for record signing Nicolas Pepe, but Liverpool won 3-1 and their second string team then knocked us out of the Caribao Cup on penalties in November after the tie had finished 5-5.

Many things have changed since then, however, not least our manager. 

Unai Emery was dismissed soon after that cup defeat while Liverpool have gone on to become champions, ending their much talked about 30-year wait.

I can remember a time when our matches against Liverpool were the biggest of the season, but those days are long gone. 

While it would be unfair to describe this as a meaningless end of season clash, there is no doubt that the Merseysiders have dropped intensity since sealing the title.

Meanwhile despite our recent improvements, we have too much ground to make up on the likes of Wolves and Sheffield United in the chase for European qualification.

I certainly never thought I would see the day when I would be writing that sentence.

With the big cup game fast approaching I fully expect to see multiple changes to the starting XI. Again, it will be tough to predict what Arteta will do but here is the team I would go with:

Martinez – Sokratis, David Luiz, Holding – Soares, Willock, Xhaka, Tierney – Nelson, Aubameyang, Saka.

I can see us sticking with the three at the back system that has been working well, although I expect the personnel to change.

Shkodran Mustafi and Sead Kolasinac have both played a lot of football recently and looked fatigued against Tottenham so I would give them a rest, permanently in the case of the Bosnian.

Dani Ceballos will be vital against City so I would rest him as well, while I would play Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang through the middle so he can really have a go at winning the Golden Boot. 

I would also recall Buyako Saka and start Reiss Nelson in place of the ineffective Pepe.

The Ivorian has been one of the big conundrums for Arteta. If he can get the best out of him then we will have a great player on our hands, but the evidence so far suggest it will be a big job. 

Pepe once again had no influence on the game at Spurs on Sunday and this has been happening far too often this season.

Having said that, the improvement Arteta brought to Raheem Sterling during his time at City shows what he can achieve with talented but inconsistent wingers so let’s keep our fingers crossed we see a much-improved Pepe next season.

It is difficult to know what to expect from this match although the one thing you can say about our meetings with Liverpool is that there are usually goals. 

In fact, 49 have been scored in the last nine meetings between the clubs since a 0-0 draw in August 2015.

Liverpool need to win all three of their remaining games if they are to set a new points record and I am sure Arteta will not want them to beat the record he helped create with City two years ago.

Moreover we also need the points to remain in with a chance of finishing above Spurs for the first time in four years. It will be scant consolation for what has been for the most part a dreadful season, but it will at least shove the taunts from Sunday back down their throats.

In the circumstances I do not expect to see the intensity of previous meetings between the clubs which could lead to an open, exciting game. It will be a good test for us against the best team in the league this season and a positive result and performance will set us up nicely for the semi-final on Saturday.

With all that in mind I am going to go for a 2-2 draw. I am not sure we are good enough to beat Liverpool even if they are only firing at 90%, but it is imperative that we avoid another defeat with City looming. 

A point will not be enough for either of our objectives but in the circumstances I would definitely take that.

DID YOU KNOW

In a run of 14 matches between Arsenal and Liverpool from August 1994 to August 2000 the only player to score for Arsenal was Ian Wright. His four goals included three penalties.