Premier League leaders Arsenal host defending champions Liverpool on Thursday in a fixture that shows just how quickly things can change in England’s top flight.
When these sides last met on the third matchday of the EPL season on Aug. 31, it was Liverpool still riding the high of their 20th league title and only their second since 1990.
Dominik Szoboszlai’s 83rd-minute tally lifted the Reds to 1-0 win, part of a seven-match winning streak in all competitions (five in league play) as Liverpool began their title defense.
Half a season later, Arne Slot’s men now find themselves searching for other motivations this season as a second consecutive league title grows increasingly unlikely.
The fourth-place Merseysiders (10-6-4, 34 points) enter the return fixture 14 points adrift of the Gunners after a disastrous October and November that included a four-match losing streak and nine losses in 12 across all competitions.
England record transfer signing Alexander Isak has only scored twice in 10 appearances and remains sidelined with lower leg fracture.
And Slot admits the biggest value of this fixture might be to boost momentum for a potential deep run in the FA Cup or UEFA Champions League.
“Of course that would mean a lot, because if you win those games that tells you that you can compete in the latter stages of the FA Cup and the Champions League with any other team as well,” Slot said. “I think we’ve shown already that we can do this because we’ve beaten, for example, Arsenal at home and I can come up with many other games that we’ve won against very strong teams. But we also know that it’s going to be a special game for them as well.”
The Gunners (15-2-3, 48 points) have won five in a row in the league to extend their lead to six points over Manchester City and Aston Villa following a 3-2 victory at Bournemouth on Saturday powered by Declan Rice’s second-half brace.
And forward Kai Havertz could be nearing a long-awaited return from a knee injury that has kept him out since August.
“We are obviously monitoring his load,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. “He has been out for a long time for two different reasons, and he is very close. He trained this morning again, and hopefully we are going to have him available in the best version of Kai Havertz.”
–Field Level Media
