Between 24 August 2015 (almost ten years ago indeed) and 27 October 2024 Arsenal played Liverpool no fewer than 25 times. Arsenal won not one of the first ten games in that series, and just five of the remaining 15 games.
But of late things have brightened up a bit. In this season, and the last two seasons before this one, the clubs have played each other five times in the league – this of course being the sixth and final game across the three seasons. Arsenal have won two games, there have been three draws and Liverpool haven’t won a single match. Arsenal have scored 11 goals against Liverpool in that spell – quite an upturn compared with earlier times.
So, although that is not in any way to say that this is going to be a sure-fire win, it does show that over recent years Arsenal have started to get the measure of Liverpool.
And of course, as we all know, that dreadful run of injuries which at one time saw us lose the entire forward line, has by and large come to an end. Not everyone has got their form back of course, Gabriel Jesus, Tomiyasu, Gabriel Magalhaes and Kai Havertz are all still out – which in any other season would be something we would all be noting. But it is not quite as bad as it was.
Yet we have become so used to first-team players not playing, that almost seems like normality. Especially as we note that Liverpool have but one injury: Joe Gomez. So, fewer Arsenal injuries and not one defeat to Liverpool in the last five league games; Arsenal might just have a chance.
However, Liverpool are still above Arsenal in the last six games table, which over the season has given us a fair indication of the form of Arsenal and the teams we are playing.
And I wwill this time include this time a couple of teams I don’t put in the chart, because of their rather extraordinary performances.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aston Villa | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 15 |
| 2 | Manc City | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 14 |
| 3 | Brentford | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 14 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 14 |
| 5 | Newcastle | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 6 | +11 | 13 |
| 6 | Liverpool | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 12 |
| 7 | Wolverhampton W | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 12 |
| 8 | Arsenal | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 9 |
| 15 | Tottenham Hots | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 14 | -6 | 4 |
| 16 | Leicester | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 11 | -7 | 4 |
| 17 | West Ham Un | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 3 |
| 18 | Manc Utd | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 2 |
I have argued that inevitably, Arsenal’s form in the league suffered somewhat as we approached the semi-finals of the Champions League, and although one might say it should not have happened, it was still a possible explanation.
But now take a look at the position of the mighty Mancehster United and the great pretenders Tottenham Hots in the last six games. In fact Manchester United are currently doing worse than Leicester City, while Tottenham Hots are only above Leicester City by having a one goal less worse goal difference.
Now of course I know these clubs have an excuse in that they are playing each other in Bilbao in the Europa League final (tickets are, it seems, still available) but even so, for Manchester United to be currently performing worse than relegated Leicester is quite something.
But let us not dwell too much on the situation of the less fortunate. for we should perhaps note that Arsenal have lost their last three games in a row although only one of these was in the league. And this is something that is being used to promote the idea that Arsenal have lost it and Arteta should go.
However, this is not the only time Arsenal have lost three in a row for it happened at the tail end of 2023 and start of 2024 with defeats to West Ham and Liverpool at home and Fulham away. Indeed if you are a regular reader here, you’ll know we have focussed on that before, and called it the Arsenal Dip.
This is not something you’ll read about elsewhere, because most sites focus on transfers that won’t happen, but getting rid of the Dip (meaning losing three in a row, instead of recovering from one defeat and going back to winning ways) is still something Arsenal really must learn to do. Now would be a good time to start.
