PREMIER LEAGUE
Predicted Arsenal starting XI for Liverpool match in the Premier League
Arteta takes his league leaders to Anfield and we take a look at how his team could line up.
Mikel Arteta has challenged his Arsenal side to win at Anfield for the first time since September 2012. The last time the side from north London won away to Liverpool was their 2-0 victory over the Merseysiders 11 years ago when Arteta featured in the Arsenal midfield.
Arsene Wenger’s summer signings Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla scored their first goals for the club either side of the break to leave new Liverpool head coach Brendan Rodgers presiding over Liverpool’s worst start in the league since the 1962-63 season.
The Gunners take on Liverpool on Saturday knowing a win would see them retain their place at the top of the Premier League table on Christmas Day. In 10 of the last 14 seasons, the Christmas Day leader has gone on to win the title.
Arteta: You have to be dominant
“We have done it at Old Trafford, we have done it at Stamford Bridge and many other places where we haven’t done it for years,” Arteta said ahead of the game in a press conference on Friday.
“This is the next challenge. Go there and win. If you want to be at the top you have to go to those places and be dominant. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”
He added: “It’s going to be a great atmosphere. The two teams are in a really good moment, really good position, really strong position. They are going to be well placed to win it and to go for it. It’s going to be an intense match. You have to play better than them. You will silence the crowd if you are dominant and better than them.
“There are certain things that we didn’t manage very well [last season], the way we allowed them to run especially, that we need to correct and be much better at because when they have that momentum and space they are a really dangerous team, but we had some the big, big situations in after those moments when we could have killed the game and we didn’t – when you have the opportunity to do that, you have to do it.
“They have experienced that for many years now. For this group of players now this is the third, fourth time that they have been there (Anfield). A few years ago, it was the first time for most of them and maybe you have to clarify and explain certain things. I don’t think that is necessary now.”
Likely Arsenal XI vs Liverpool
This is how Arsenal could line up against Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday:
Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Rice, Odegaard, Havertz; Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.
Arsenal’s last league game ended in a 2-0 win at home to Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton & Hove Albion, with goals from Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz, while Liverpool are coming off the back of a 5-1 Carabao Cup thrashing of West Ham.