Arsenal welcome Liverpool to The Emirates Stadium on Friday night as the festive football calendar gets underway with a mouth watering tie. Arsenal will be looking to avenge the embarrassing 4-0 defeat they suffered at Anfield back in August and Arsene Wenger will be confident that his side can turn in a much improved performance on home soil. For Jurgen Klopp, it is an opportunity to open up a four-point gap on their rivals in the race for a top four finish.
English Premier League – The Emirates Stadium, London, England – 7:45 PM, Friday, December 22nd, 2017
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Draw Best Odd of: 5/2 at William Hill |
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Arsenal
LiverpoolArsenal’s Form
Arsenal picked up a 1-0 win over West Ham United in the EFL Cup quarter final on Tuesday night in an extremely drab affair. Danny Welbeck scored the only goal of the game as Wenger made a whole host of changes to his starting line up. Arsenal have looked pretty lethargic recently, winning just one of their last four matches in the Premier League and scoring only twice in their last three games. There have been calls by some fans for Wenger to drop Alexis Sanchez due to his poor form, but I can’t see that happening in such a massive game. It will be interesting to see who Wenger decides to play up front with Alexandre Lacazette and Olivier Giroud battling it out for that starting berth.
Liverpool’s Form
Liverpool returned to winning ways in some style with a 4-0 win against Bournemouth in their last match and Jurgen Klopp’s side have now gone 12 games unbeaten since their defeat to Tottenham Hotspur back in October. Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Philipe Coutinho were all in superb form against Bournemouth, whilst Sadio Mane was allowed a full rest on the bench.
Jurgen Klopp has some big selection headaches heading into the match with Nathaniel Clyne, Joel Matip, Alberto Moreno and Daniel Sturridge all missing out. One man who will be confident of starting is former Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain; the man who moved to Anfield for £35m in the summer has finally found his feet and turned in a man of the match performance against Bournemouth on Sunday.
Talking Points
- Arsenal haven’t beaten Liverpool since April 2015, with Liverpool unbeaten in the last five matches between these two sides.
- There have been 21 goals scored in the last four matches between these two sides with Liverpool scoring 14 of those.
- Mohamed Salah remains the top scorer in the Premier League with 14 goals and the Egyptian winger has now scored 20 goals in all competitions this season.
Prediction
One thing we expect to see when these two sides meet is goals; 21 goals in the last four matches points to some excellent attacking displays coupled with woeful defensive performances. Arsenal have been especially guilty of turning in some abject defensive performances in this fixture in recent years and Wenger knows his side will have to be at their best to keep out Liverpool’s fab four. I think this game could go either way, depending on who makes the most defensive mistakes and it really is too close to call. Liverpool have lost just twice all season, whilst Arsenal have lost only once at The Emirates Stadium, so a score draw could be the most likely result.
Betting Tips (Ladbrokes)
Arsenal start this game as favourites at odds of 13/10, whilst an away win for Liverpool is priced up at 9/5, with the draw available at 13/5. As the odds suggest, this is a really tough one to call and I wouldn’t be too confident in betting on an outcome of this game. One thing that is almost a certainty is that there will be goals in this game and with 21 goals in the last four games between these two sides, Over 3.5 goals at 5/4 looks like a very tempting bet, with Over 2.5 at 8/15 looking like a banker. Another decent bet to me looks to be Both Teams to Score in the First Half at 5/2, as I expect both teams to try and start fast, but also leave themselves exposed at the back.
BTTS First Half – 5/2 (Ladbrokes)