The last time Arsenal faced Liverpool at Anfield was the day it became clear that the Gunners were still a work in progress. It was at the start of April last season and Mikel Arteta’s young side were still chasing their first Premier League title in 19 years.
Arsenal had topped the table for close to seven months but as the saying goes, league titles are won in April and May and not in the first half of the season. Arsenal started like the team chasing a league title and went 2-0 up inside the first 30 minutes.
But after an altercation between the now departed midfielder Granit Xhaka and Trent Alexandre Arnold, Liverpool with the help of a now charged Anfield crowd, who were awoken by the incident pulled one goal back just before halftime.
The second half was basically reduced to attack vs defence with Liverpool very much in the ascendancy. Roberto Firmino scored the equalizer late on and Arsenal never fully recovered after that game.
The would drop more points to Westham and Southampton before losing to Nottingham Forest and surrender the league title to Manchester City who completed the historic three peat.
Fast forward 8 months later and Arsenal will travel to Anfield top of the table again but this time the script is different. The title race is not a two horse race as Liverpool could go top of the table should they win against a team that has not won at Anfield in 11 years.
Liverpool have recovered from their mini slump last season and look set to challenge for the league again as they had done for the past few years prior to last season.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have been picking up points while not displaying the level of football they showed when they won the league in 2020 and now sit just a point behind Mikel Arteta’s team. This is big for them too.
With the Champions not playing this weekend, the match on Saturday presents each team with a chance to pull further away from the treble winners who are usually very good in the second half of the season.
For Liverpool, its a chance to put behind last weekend’s poor showing against Manchester United while for Arsenal its a time to show the whole world that this time they mean business.
The win at home to Manchester City in September was a statement from Mikel Arteta and his young guns, beating Liverpool at Anfield will make the rest of the world take note!
The match kicks off at 2030HRS East African time.
By Newscreatorhub