Preview: Arsenal vs Liverpool | Pre-game report | News

Premier League action returns to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday (4.30pm UK) when we host Liverpool.

Following our 1-0 home win against Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, we are looking to get back to winning ways in the Premier League following last weekend's 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth.

A win on Sunday would take us within a point of Liverpool, who lead the division heading into the weekend. It would also be our 2,000th win in the top division.

SLIT

Following the departure of Jürgen Klopp, it has been a near-perfect start to life as Liverpool head coach for Arne Slot, who has led his team to 11 wins out of 12 in all competitions this season, only losing 1-0 at home to Nottingham Forest.

Last weekend, the Reds secured a 2-1 win over Chelsea at Anfield thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah and Curtis Jones either side of a strike from Nicolas Jackson. On Wednesday they won 1-0 away at RB Leipzig in the Champions League.

In the Premier League, Liverpool haven't scored as many goals as Manchester City, Chelsea or Tottenham Hotspur, but they have only conceded three, the fewest in the division.

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY

Arteta: “Go ahead, show your teeth, show how much you want it, the great opportunity for other people, the great opportunity for us as a team to rebel against certain situations, we need the audience more.”

“On Sunday we need them even more, I’m sure they will and let’s move on.”

Slot: “We all know that it's important to take points from your competitor.” And nobody knows at this early stage who your competitor or your biggest competitor will be, but I think we all know Arsenal will be one of them, and then it is always important to lose points or win points against them.

“So you're right, I think last season there were three draws and one defeat (against Arsenal and Manchester City). So if you use simple calculations, if Liverpool had been able to win all three, I think the table would have turned out a little bit differently. It’s difficult to win an away game against Arsenal, City or anyone else, but we’ll definitely try to do that on Sunday.”

TEAM NEWS

The availability of Bukayo Saka (thigh), Riccardo Calafiori (knee) and Jurrien Timber (muscle) will be checked later.

“We will do our best to have her available somehow, but it is very uncertain,” Mikel Arteta said on Friday.

Our other absentees are Martin Odegaard (ankle), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (thigh).

William Saliba is suspended until our game against Newcastle United on November 2nd due to his red card against Bournemouth.

Liverpool will be without Alisson Becker, Conor Bradley, Federico Chiesa and Diogo Jota.

TACTICS CONVERSATION

Adrian Clarke: Liverpool's new head coach Arne Slot got off to a promising start, making only minor tactical adjustments to the way they played under former coach Jürgen Klopp.

Their preferred shape is 4-2-3-1, a departure from their long-standing 4-3-3, and this change is intended to give them more stability, particularly when plays fail.

The way they press has also changed since the Dutchman came from Feyenoord.

Now you will see their main striker and the No.10, usually Dominik Szoboszlai, taking down both centre-backs as a pair – previously they left one alone – or the duo shielding passes into central midfield. Their wide forwards occupy the full-backs.

The guests are more patient on the ball than before. While they still pose a major threat from quick breakaways, it's not natural for Liverpool's class of 2024 to be in such a hurry to attack. With an average possession of 60.3%, they instead like to try to wear down teams under the current head coach. Only Manchester City have developed more attacking attacks than the Merseysiders.

In another change, the Reds' left-back moved to central midfield as often as Trent Alexander-Arnold moved from right-back. They will share this responsibility more evenly than under Klopp.

Slot has also introduced a larger number of inward-swinging corners. In recent seasons they have predominantly used wingers intended for Virgil van Dijk, but currently there is more variety in their set-piece games.

FACTS AND STATISTICS

We have won our last two Premier League home games against Liverpool, most recently between 2004 and 2006 (4).

We are unbeaten in our last four Premier League games against Liverpool (W2 D2) and have taken more points from those four games (8) than we did in our previous 14 games against the Reds (W7 – D4). , 9 defeats).

Gabriel Martinelli has been involved in more goals against Liverpool in all competitions than against any other of our teams (7 – 5 goals, 2 assists). Four of his five goals against the Reds put us ahead in this game, including all three of those Premier League goals.

Kai Havertz has scored in each of his last five Premier League appearances at the Emirates Stadium. The only Arsenal player to score in more consecutive home games in this competition is Thierry Henry, who did so twice (6 from March to August 2000 and 7 from May to October 2004).

Declan Rice could make his 250th Premier League appearance in this game. He would be the sixth youngest player to reach this milestone (25 years, 287 days) and the youngest since Raheem Sterling in March 2020 (25 years, 91 days).

GAME OFFICIALS

Anthony Taylor was appointed referee for Sunday's game. He has handed out 48 yellow cards and one red card in nine games so far this season.

The last time he was involved in an Arsenal game was our 0-0 draw at Manchester City at the end of March last season. His last game at the Emirates Stadium was also against Liverpool when Ibrahima Konate was sent off in our 3-1 win.

Referee: Anthony Taylor
Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn
Fourth official: Sam Barrott
VAR: Michael Salisbury
Assistant VAR: Darren Cann

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

There have been 242 meetings between us and Liverpool in all competitions since 1893.

Under Mikel Arteta we have won five times over the Reds – three times in the Premier League in 2020, 2022 and 2024.

Bukayo Saka gave us an early lead in last season's encounter, but an own goal from Gabriel just before half-time took us into the break. Thanks to goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard we got the job done in the second half.