It's shaping up to be a great Sunday at the Emirates Stadium as we take on Liverpool in what could be a pivotal match in the race for the Premier League title.
A 2-1 win away to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night saw us move within two points of Jurgen Klopp's side, before they moved five points clear again with a 4-1 win over visiting Chelsea.
A win on Sunday would once again take us to within two points of the league leaders and back to second place ahead of Manchester City's match away to Brentford on Monday night.
Club's latest trends
For Liverpool, there would be no better way to celebrate Jurgen Klopp's final season at the club than by winning a second Premier League title under the German coach. They are still fighting on four fronts in their quest for silverware this season.
They made the Reds difficult to beat, losing just once in the top flight this season, but they also couldn't beat us in the December encounter at Anfield, when goals from Gabriel and Mohamed Salah contributed to a 1-1 draw on Merseyside.
They have made a strong start since then thanks to wins over Burnley, Newcastle United and Bournemouth in the Premier League, and reached the Carabao Cup final with a 3-2 aggregate win over Fulham in the semi-finals. finals.
What managers say
Arteta“What we have to do is play the way we played in the last two games against them, and be more efficient in the areas that will decide the game.
“[I’m] Very excited, it's always great to prepare for a match against Liverpool; How good they are, they control every aspect of the game. “We are playing at home, and what I feel is a real feeling of positivity and enthusiasm around the place.”
Read every word from Mikel's pre-match press conference here.
Club“We're just focusing on the game, on the things we have to do, improving from the games we've played against them and learning from the games we've played against them because they're really good, and we're trying to win.
“It is more difficult at Arsenal but we are in a good moment and we must take advantage of that as well.”
Team news
Thomas Partey will be unavailable after a setback in his recovery from a muscle injury. It remains to be seen how close Fabio Vieira and Jorren Timber are to a return due to fitness and knee issues respectively, while Mohamed Elneny recently returned from the Africa Cup of Nations.
Takehiro Tomiyasu remains unavailable having just completed international duty with Japan in the Asian Cup on Saturday.
Liverpool will assess the fitness of Darwin Nunez, who suffered a foot injury against Chelsea on Wednesday.
Thiago has returned to full training after a thigh injury but Klopp will continue without Mohamed Salah (hamstring), Joel Matip (knee), Kostas Tsimikas (shoulder), Stefan Bajcetic (calf) and Ben Doak (knee).
Like Tomiyasu, Endo was away to Japan in the Asian Cup.
Facts and statistics
Gabriel Martinelli has contributed more goals against Liverpool in all competitions than against any other opponent (four goals and two assists). The Brazilian scored the opening goal after just 58 seconds in this exact match last season, while also assisting Bukayo Saka's goal to give Arsenal a 2-1 lead before half-time.
We won this exact game 3-2 last season, with the last win over Liverpool at home coming in two successive Premier League seasons in 2013/14 and 2014/15.
This will be the 200th meeting between us and Liverpool in the league, and the fifth match to be played as many times in the history of English football. Liverpool have won 79 to 66 so far (54 draws).
We have taken five points from our last three Premier League matches against Liverpool (W1, D2), the same number as we have in the previous 12 matches (W1, D2, L9). We look to maintain our unbeaten record in four league games against the Reds for the first time since December 2014 and January 2016 (W1, D3).
We have opened the scoring in the last three Premier League matches against Liverpool, each time in the first 10 minutes of the game. We last scored the first goal in four successive league matches against the Reds between August 1967 and November 1970 (six matches).
Match officials
Anthony Taylor was appointed to officiate Sunday's match, having officiated 28 matches in all competitions, during which he received 129 yellow cards and four red cards.
He has been a referee for just one of our matches so far this season, which was our 3-1 home win over Manchester United in early September.
to rule: Anthony Taylor
Helpers: Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn
Fourth official: Craig Pawson
Video Assistant Referee: David Cote
VAR Assistant: Tim Wood
Last season in the Emirates
We ended a run of five games in all competitions without beating Liverpool in last season's Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium.
Gabriel Martinelli immediately gave us the lead in the first minute of the game, but Darwin Nunez pulled one back just after the half-hour mark.
Bukayo Saka restored the lead again towards the end of the first half, before Roberto Firmino scored Liverpool's second equaliser.
Saka was the hero 14 minutes from time when he scored from the penalty spot to make it 3-2.
Live Breakdown
Nick Praet and Adrian Clarke are on the field for Arsenal County Armagh in Sunday's match, and to celebrate the Green Football Weekend, Mathieu Flamini is joined by Nicole Holiday.
Nick and Adrian welcome Martin Keown and Theo Walcott to the My Arsenal Rewards box while Nicole will pop out to ask fans the question of the day.
DJ Target and Alexis Guerreros will also be in the studio before we hand over to Dan Roebuck and Nigel Winterburn for live commentary from Emirates Stadium.
You can also find out The broadcaster who shows the event live Wherever you are in the world.
In case you miss it yourself
Catch up on all the rest of our pre-Liverpool content…
Copyright 2024 Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted provided that appropriate credit is given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
“Food ninja. Friendly thinker. Explorer. Entrepreneur. Zombie junkie.