Arsenal have the chance to make a real statement this weekend when they travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool. Mikel Arteta’s side have a 100% record from their first two Premier League games of the season having defeated both Manchester United and Leeds United.
Much was made of Arsenal’s extremely tricky start to the campaign and the games are going to get harder over the coming weeks with Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Newcastle United to come. Whereas some may look at those games and fear the worst, Arteta and his team will view them as an opportunity to lay down a real marker and send a major warning to their title rivals.
The Gunners have not fared well at Anfield over the past decade or so, with their last Premier League win at Liverpool’s home coming all the way back in September 2012. They did, however, frustrate the Reds back in May after fighting back from a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 on Merseyside.
Arsenal are two from two in the Premier League this season and the same applies to Arne Slot’s Liverpool. However, the Reds have been far from convincing and required late goals against both Bournemouth and Newcastle United to claim maximum points.
The victory at Newcastle, courtesy of 16-year-old star Rio Ngumoha’s last-gasp winner, all came about after the visitors threw away a healthy 2-0 lead against 10 men. The Reds didn’t do enough to kill the game off and Bruno Guimaraes gave Newcastle hope in the 57th minute before William Osula equalised after 88 minutes, with Ngumoha then dealing the Magpies a killer blow deep into 10 minutes of stoppage time.
In Sky Sports’ post-match analysis, former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher pointed to Milos Kerkez’s role in the first Newcastle goal and he also mentioned the Hungarian’s poor start to life at the club following his transfer from Bournemouth. Ibrahima Konate also came in for criticism as “he has been all over the place”.