The standout fixture in the Premier League this weekend will take place on Saturday evening when Liverpool entertain Arsenal at the dreaded Anfield.
Just one place and two points separate the two sides in the table, with Liverpool sitting fourth and Arsenal fifth after 11 games of the campaign.
At the end of August, one would have been given long odds for Arsenal having the chance to leapfrog Liverpool in the table when the two sides met in gameweek 12.
At that stage, Arsenal were rock-bottom having lost all three of their games, conceding nine times without scoring, while Liverpool had taken seven points from a possible nine and conceded only once.
Fast forward to the present day and the Premier League picture has changed significantly; for Liverpool, that is largely down to a two-game winless streak before the international break, including their first defeat of the season last time out, going down 3-2 at West Ham.
As for Arsenal, their eight-game run makes for Arsenal’s longest undefeated streak since December 2018, while in all competitions that record improves to eight wins and two draws from their last 10.
Mikel Arteta’s side have kept seven clean sheets in that time too, including three in a row before the break, and in their last 10 games combined they have conceded fewer goals than they did in their 5-0 defeat at Man City before this current run began.
All of that has catapulted Arsenal right back into the top-four race, and despite still only having a goal difference of 0 – 20 worse than Saturday’s opponents – a victory at the weekend would be enough to lift them into the Champions League places for the first time since October 2020.
However, the main worry concern for Arsenal is their poor record at Anfield as they have failed to win a league game there since 2012.
The hero for the Gunners back then was Robin Van Persie, whose brace completed a 2-1 comeback win for then manager Arsene Wenger.
One has to go back to September 1981 to January 1988 for the last time Liverpool had a longer winning run at home to Arsenal in the top flight
Also, it is important to note that Liverpool have lost just one of their 11 Premier League meetings with Arsenal since Klopp took charge, winning seven of those.
The Reds have won five on the bounce against Arsenal, scoring at least three times in all of those matches.
Having said that, Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in six of their last nine top-flight away games, including three in a row, and another on Saturday would be their best run since May 2005.
Arteta’s side now look like a much more organised outfit than the one that was destroyed 5-0 by Manchester City on matchday three, and this weekend’s trip to Anfield will give them the perfect opportunity to show just how far they have come in that time.
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