It promises to be a great Sunday at the Emirates Stadium as we face Liverpool in what could be a crucial Premier League title race.
We closed the gap on Jurgen Klopp’s side to two points with a 2-1 away win at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night and went five points clear again after beating Chelsea 4-1 at home.
A win on Sunday will move us back two points clear of the league leaders and move back into second place ahead of Manchester City’s away game at Brentford on Monday night.
Klopp’s last hurray
There is no better way for Liverpool to celebrate Jurgen Klopp’s final season at the club than with a second Premier League title under the German boss. They are fighting on four fronts in this season’s quest for silverware.
The Reds have made themselves hard to beat, losing just once in the division this season, but goals from Gabriel and Mohamed Salah at Anfield in December could not overcome us in a 1-1 draw on Merseyside.
They reached the Carabao Cup final with wins over Burnley, Newcastle United and AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League but have had a spring in their step since then. The end.
What do the managers say?
Arteta: “What we have to do is play the way we played the last two games against them and be effective in the areas that decide the game.
“[I’m] I’m very happy, it’s always good to prepare a game against Liverpool. How good they are, they control every aspect of the game. We play at home, and what I notice is a real sense of positivity and enthusiasm in the area.
Read every word of Mikel’s pregame press conference here.
Klopp: “We will only focus on the game, on the things we have to do, to improve from the games we played with them and because the games we played with them were good and we will try to win.
“It’s more difficult at Arsenal but we are in a good moment and we have to take advantage of it.”
Group news
Thomas Parte is out after recovering from a muscle injury. It remains to be seen how close Fabio Vieira and Jurien Timber are to the return due to their fitness and knee issues, while Mohamed Elneny recently returned from the Africa Cup of Nations.
Takehiro Tomiyasu will be absent after completing international duty against Japan in the Asian Cup on Saturday.
Liverpool will assess the fitness of Darwin Nunez, who picked up a foot injury against Chelsea on Wednesday.
Thiago is back in full training after a hip problem but Klopp will be without Mohamed Salah (hamstring), Joel Matip (knee), Kostas Tsimikas (shoulder), Stefan Bajcetic (calf) and Ben Dok (knee).
Like Tomiyasu, Indo missed the Asian Cup with Japan.
Facts and statistics
Gabriel Martinelli’s goal contribution against Liverpool in all competitions is more than any of our opponents (four goals, two assists). Last season, in this exact match, the Brazilian netted the opener after 58 seconds, and Bucayo Saka’s goal gave the Gunners a 2-1 lead.
We won this exact game 3-2 last season, we last beat Liverpool at home in 2013/14 and 2014/15.
This will be the 200th league meeting between us and Liverpool and the fifth most times in English football history. Liverpool have won 79 to 66 so far (54 draws).
We have picked up five points in our last three Premier League games against Liverpool (W1 W1), which is 12 (W1 W2). We are looking to remain unbeaten in our four league games against the Reds between December 2014 and January 2016 (W1 D3).
In our last three Premier League games against Liverpool, we scored in the first 10 minutes of the game. In August 1967 and November 1970 we scored the first point in four successive league meetings against the Reds (six runs).
Match officials
Anthony Taylor has made 28 appearances in all competitions and has been appointed in charge for Sunday’s game, in which he has handed out 129 yellow cards and four red cards.
It’s just one of the games we’ve played this season – we beat Manchester United 3-1 at the beginning of September.
Judge: Anthony Taylor
Assistants: Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn.
The fourth authority: Craig Pawson
has been David Coote
Assistant VAR: Tim Wood
Last season at the Emirates
Last season we finished 5 games unbeaten against Liverpool in the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium.
Gabriel Martinelli gave us an instant lead in the first minute of the game, but Darwin Nunez scored on the stroke of half-time.
Bucayo Saka put us ahead again on the stroke of half-time before Roberto Firmino scored Liverpool’s second goal.
Saka was the hero though with 14 minutes to go as he converted from the penalty spot to make it 3-2 for good.
Live streaming
Nick Bright and Adrian Clarke are on the field for Sunday’s game against Arsenal County Armagh and Mathieu Flamini joins Nicole Holliday to celebrate the Green Football Wind.
Nick and Adrian welcome Martin Keown and Theo Walcott to my Arsenal prize box, Nicole off the pitch and asking our fans the question of the day.
DJ Target and Alexis Guerreros will be in the studio before we hand over live commentary from Emirates Stadium to Dan Roebuck and Nigel Winterburn.
You can also know Which broadcaster is showing the action live. No matter where you are in the world.
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