A reason to be optimistic for the Liverpool clash? We haven’t lost a game against the traditional big six in well over 500 days!
It’s matchday!! And even if there’s been some negativity surrounding our chances of winning this fixture, we’ll still be excited regardless in what will be a mouth watering clash between two of the PL’s top three this season.
This skepticism and negativity is understandable given the incredibly difficult scenario we have found ourselves due to injuries and other enforced absences ahead of Liverpool’s visit. With that said however, if you’re a big club like Arsenal, you can’t start feeling sorry for yourself or not being confident of a win because of absences, clubs of this stature should know how to pull through in these sort of games regardless of the context!
Credit to us, we’ve done exactly that this, playing the likes of Aston Villa, Tottenham, Atalanta, Man City and PSG and still managing to remain unbeaten in all of them in spite of having major absentees for those games.
Everyday brings it’s own challenges and Liverpool will be no different, but another impressive feat should give us more confidence ahead of the clash. The Gunners have not tasted defeat against the traditional big six for well over 500 days now, with our last defeat coming against City in April 2023 when they absolutely ripped us to shreds in a 4-1 win at the Etihad. Since then indeed we managed to stay unbeaten against the “Big Six” till now, impressively going the whole of last season unbeaten as well.
This should make us very optimistic especially considering that it’ll be a home fixture, The Emirates will be rocking and hopefully Arteta will(like he promised) have us flying against the League leaders this evening.
Considering the unbeaten run we’re on against the traditional big six, how confident are you all on a win today?
KENNETH BENJAMIN.
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Not with this injuries and absentees. If our players were all fit I would have been very confident.
We are not that super team yet with quality replacements.
The likes of Zinchenko, Kiwior, Sterling are not players that fill me with confidence.
Hopefully, they surprise me today and at least get a draw if we can’t win.
@SJ That we don’t lose to top teams is an unfounded analysis because we have only achieved that comfortably over two seasons. We can only be said to be in that equation over if we don’t lose to top6 teams over five seasons. As for been worried, we have reasons to be because the opposition beat us in pre-season and are still in good form while Arsenal are a bit depleted at the moment.
But considering we are playing at the Emirate Stadium I think we have enough in our amoury not to lose and hopefully win. I remain optimistic.
Both teams look to have quite a few possible/probable absentees through injury and/or suspension. I would be much more confident with a full-strength Arsenal side but that’s not what will be playing today. A win would obviously be great, particularly in these circumstances, but a draw wouldn’t be a disaster either.
I also don’t accept this “we don’t lose against top six sides” argument as some sort of insurance policy to hold on to. It wasn’t that long ago when Arsenal couldn’t beat a “top six” side for love or money! Things change, but they don’t change forever. Every game – against top, middle or bottom – is different and each can carry its own risks. Let’s wait and see.
@Bertie
👍🏾
Yes they have.
Allison, Jota, Bradley and Chiesa.
at full strength I am not worried about facing Liverpool
but we are clearly very far from full strength – Odegaard, Saliba, Calafiori, Tomy are definitely out and Saka, Timber major doubts not expected to play (if either do that will be a bonus)
that is a big chunk of Arsenals defensive unit, and almost the entirety of our creativity (as we saw against Bournemouth and Shakhtar)
unfortunately a good recent track record against the big six counts for nout later this afternoon
This is a massive game believe or not, there is no doubt things have changed for the better
But Arsenal will have to turn up today., one thing for sure , Arsenal needs no motivation for this one, it’s not like we are playing the Saints
I wouldn’t mind having this setup
Raya
White-Rice-Gabriel-kiwior
Partey
Jesus-Merino
Sterling-Havertz-Martineli
Sub: lewis-skelly, Nwaneri, Jorginho, Zinchencko, Trossard
I really hope Arteta won’t play Partey at RB,this automatically makes us defensive, to be fair, Trossard has been very poor in our last 2 matches,
This is my opinion, here’s to a victorious game today.
Despite the injuries, we do have the solutions, and it’s upon the coach to be willing to take risks and trust his players. Livepool haven’t been that great! as the game against Chelsea showed, against decent opposition they are vulnerable. Plus they have not had it easy at the Emirates.
Let’s hope so. Liverpool may not be playing great football, but they have that annoying trait (much like City at present) – they keep winning despite of it. Any leading team probably should win when on top form, but the successful sides still often win when they’re not.
Havertz.
Martinelli. Nwaneri. Jesus.
Merino. Partey.
Skelly. Gabriel. Rice. White.
Raya.
We don’t lose to Bournmouth level of teams anymore though
And not even by 2 goals
I think of it now and…
Getting Merino almost feels like “Buying For Buying Sake”
When u had Smith-Rowe who would just enter the Odegaard role and there’ll be no Qualms
But u went to buy someone who’s not better than Smith-Rowe, he’s not even better than any center-midfielder the team already has
But on another thought
If the thinking was influenced by the board – so as to cut cost
Then looking at Nwaneri as a possible back-up for Odegaard – who would cost close to nothing and just be on the bench just like Smith-Rowe was … then it actually makes sense
Just that the issue now is :
“We actually now need that Odegaard backup to actually play”