- Arsenal v Liverpool: how one team has an easy build up and the other has it tough
- Arsenal v Liverpool: referee is Anthony Taylor; the statistical analysis
By Tony Attwood
So kick off is at 8 pm and it is on Sky Sports in the UK, starting at 7pm.
Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard are expected to return to the starting lineup after coming off the bench in the 3-2 win over Bournemouth, while Piero Hincapie could well get to play at left back, leaving Myles Lewis-Skelly sitting on the beach having an ice cream.
It is also rather possible that Kai Havertz could be on the beach, and if all goes according to plan, come on for the last 20 minutes. Eberechi Eze would also value a bit of time on the pitch, although he will also be looking forward to having a couple of games in the next round of the Carabao Cup, which is indeed not that far away.
With Arsenal being bottom of the injury table, we can expect stories to start emerging of other clubs seeking to buy up “disgruntled” Arsenal players who are not getting games, on the cheap – but it is worth remembering that such nonsense is merely created by agents as a way of justifying their existence, and snapped up by editors as a way of filling some column inches.
Mind you, it would be nice if some of the media did some investigative make-believe into how Arsenal have managed to have so few injuries at the moment. Some secret foruma? A deal with PGMO? There must be something they can make up. Although maybe I have been holding the injury table upside down.
Meanwhiile The BBC have an interesting report saying that, “Arne Slot’s side are nine games unbeaten now, so their recent results have been all right on paper. It’s their performances that are the problem, though. When you see them with your own eyes, they are miles off where they were when they won the title last season and are nowhere near where Arsenal are at now either.”
The Corporation go for a 2-0 victory to Arsenal. The Standard do however, give us an Arsenal line-up to contemplate
Raya;
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie;
Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard;
Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard
The Metro go with exactly the same group of men, although with very slight positional differences in the midfield, which of course we often see during the course of the game anyway, so that doesn’t really make too much difference.
And then again, Sports Mole comes in with exactly the same players, although once again with a bit of a shuffle in positioning across each line.
So with nothing much to add on that issue, here is a league table as it stands this afternoon…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 20 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 40 | 14 | 26 | 48 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 21 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 45 | 19 | 26 | 43 |
| 3 | Aston Villa | 21 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 33 | 24 | 9 | 43 |
| 4 | Liverpool | 20 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 32 | 28 | 4 | 34 |
But what we can also do is look forward to forthcoming fixtures just to see how tough a ride Arsenal have from here on in. The next game takes us away from the league and drops Arsenal into the FA Cup on Sunday, when we are away to Portsmouth, who currently lie 21st out of 24 in the Championship. And this is important, since it means that Arsenal can play some reserve or junior players in that match – players who might be getting a bit edgy with sitting on the bench all the time in the league games.
After that, it is back to the League Cup for the first semi-final against Chelsea on Wednesday, 14th. Then on Saturday 17th January, it is Arsenal’s third consecutive away game, this time against Nottingham Forest with a 5.30 kick off. And you can imagine that by now some of the fans of other teams are getting a trifle fed up with every other televised match being an Arsenal game while we are just getting fed up only playing away games.
Indeed, with three away fixtures in a row, what we get next is another away fixture in the Champions League, this time against Inter Milan on 20 January. Of course, the earlier part of the Champs League was all so long ago, by now you might well have forgotten about it, but you might like to remember that Arsenal are top of that League table, and virtually nailed on to go through to the next proper round without any of that play-off nonsense.
There is one very, very curious and odd array of results over the last two games that could see Arsenal drop out of the top eight, but it is so bizarre if it happened, I think we’d all be demanding withdrawal from the Champions League until UEFA handed its running over to the clubs.
But anyway, meanwhile, tonight it is the poodles.
I am of the mind that Pool will be quite rough as Mr. Liverpool (ref) is officiating in North London this evening and we are aware of his dubious decisions against Arsenal and the first rounds game is a reminder of how dumb decisions influence outcomes. Hopefully his work doesn’t impact on a result.