Liverpool vs. Arsenal: Match Preview

Liverpool embody the word inconsistent; we draw with Chelsea, embarrass ourselves against Hull, comfortably dispatch Spurs and get thrashed 3-1 by Leicester.

Writing previews for this football club has never been easy but this is becoming a joke!

It seems Liverpool are set on continuing this downward spiral we’ve been in since the turn of January, even if we’re able to knock out the odd commendable performance.

Saying that, Liverpool have only taken six points from a possible 21 this year and I’m actually impressed we’re still just one win away from being a point behind second place.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool play best when we are the ones applying the pressure and the opposition face a constant bombardment from us. That is what we must do against Arsenal.

Arsenal is a team we’ve already beaten this season – in their own back yard too – and it wouldn’t be a big surprise if we were to go two for two with The Gunners.

Liverpool are in a place now where I get more anxious if we are to come up against a team in the bottom six more than the top.

We turn up against the big boys, we always have, and long may that continue.

Team News

Good news for Liverpool. Maybe. Dejan Lovren is set to return to the starting eleven against Arsenal.

Bad news for Liverpool. Definite. Jordan Henderson will not be available for selection this weekend; an injury keeping the skipper on the sidelines.

Henderson is a big loss for Klopp as Liverpool win only tend to win one of three games when the captain is missing but it’s not all doom and gloom; the myth that is Daniel Sturridge is to return to the squad for Saturday’s fixture.

More bad news for Liverpool; Aaron Ramsey and Laurent Koscielny are once again available for Arsene Wenger after the former has recovered from a long-standing injury.

This game will be lost and won in the midfield and Liverpool are going to need to stop Arsenal’s creativity – especially now Ramsey is back – and here’s hoping Emre Can and Co. are up to that task.

Santi Cazorla and Mohamed Elneny are also both to remain on the sidelines.

Current Form

Liverpool (last six results in all competitions) –

Leicester 3-1 Liverpool
Liverpool 2-0 Spurs
Hull 2-0 Liverpool
Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
Liverpool 1-2 Wolves
Liverpool 0-1 Southampton

The football Gods currently hate Liverpool.

Arsenal (last six results in all competitions) –

Sutton 0-2 Arsenal
Bayern Munich 5-1 Arsenal
Arsenal 2-0 Hull
Chelsea 3-1 Arsenal
Arsenal 1-2 Watford
Southampton 0-5 Arsenal

Telling you, apart from the game against Saints, it seems the football Gods aren’t too keen on Arsenal either!

Prediction

Arsenal aren’t going to fall over easy. They’ll be hurting from their embarrassing showing in the Champions League which saw them demolished 5-1 by Bayern.

That sounds familiar, 5-1.

Regardless, defeating the mighty Sutton United 2-0 probably hasn’t sent a message to the fans of “it’s fine, we’re back!” but a result at Anfield just might.

Liverpool have seemingly became the Scouse Globetrotters; only actually making appearances against the biggest clubs in the country.

Luckily, Arsenal are one of the aforementioned biggest clubs.

We turned it on against Chelsea, we turned it on against Spurs. I think we’ll turn it on against Arsenal.

Although I do see a recurring problem with Liverpool. We may turn up against the big boys but we don’t always walk away with three points – very often, we’ll share the spoils with our rivals.

I think this game will go down that route again. We’ll turn up and show everybody that we mean business but I don’t think we will win the game.

In fact, I bet the scoreline will be Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal at full time.

I just hope we don’t then throw away our momentum by dropping points against Burnley…

If you’d like to strongly disagree with me or remind me of what I’ve written, when Liverpool smash Arsenal 5-1, you can find me on Twitter – @sigsgomento