Paul Merson and Chris Sutton have offered their predictions for Arsenal’s huge Premier League clash at home to Liverpool
Paul Merson and Chris Sutton have disagreed in their predictions for Arsenal‘s huge Premier League clash at home to Liverpool on Sunday.
The Gunners could go within a single point of the league-leading Reds with a win this weekend. Mikel Arteta‘s side will be looking to bounce back from their shock 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth last time out in the league.
And Arsenal will be wary of falling further behind Liverpool and Manchester City in the title race. Defeat on Sunday could see Arteta’s team fall seven points behind the Reds and six off City.
But Gunners legend Merson believes the points will be shared. The Sky Sports pundit predicts a 1-1 draw.
“If you’re Liverpool, you could accept a draw but deep down inside they’ll still be disappointed if they fail to win this game,” Merson told Sportskeeda.
“If it was still Jurgen Klopp as manager, I could see Liverpool running riot here and Arsenal getting shredded to pieces with so many of their key players unavailable. Klopp always wanted to leave teams with a bloody nose in games like these, whereas Arne Slot is more controlled.
“Arsenal will be without three or four of their best players, with Declan Rice being the only exception. Liverpool will know these kind of opportunities to face a weakened Arsenal team will not come around very often. But I doubt they’ll get a win. A draw in the end would be a great result for Arsenal.”
Sutton, meanwhile, has gone with an away win, although admits the result would be different if William Saliba was not suspended. The former Chelsea player predicts Liverpool to come out on top 0-1.
“Liverpool are not helped by having to travel back from RB Leipzig on Wednesday, but Arsenal have bigger problem,” he told BBC Sport. “Riccardo Calafiori was excellent against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday but he came off after falling awkwardly. I was at the Emirates, and my hunch from seeing what happened is that he will not be fit for Sunday.
“Arsenal already have William Saliba suspended, which is a massive loss, so they will have to reshuffle at the back. There are rumours that Jurrien Timber could be fit to play at left-back, but if not and they go with Oleksandr Zinchenko against Mohamed Salah, you would fancy Salah to get the better of him.
“Liverpool can exploit all of this and then you think about how Arsenal are missing players in an attacking sense too. There’s a lot of talk about whether Bukayo Saka might be fit after missing the past two matches, but Martin Odegaard is still out.
“Without them, Arsenal were unconvincing in front of goal against Shakhtar. Gabriel Jesus does so many good things for the team, but you would never back him to finish. So I am basing this prediction on a combination of what I saw against Shakhtar -because Arsenal were really flat all round – all their injury doubts and Saliba’s absence.
“If Saliba was playing, I wouldn’t be predicting a Liverpool win, but if Calafiori and Timber are not fit I don’t feel Arsenal have adequate cover. This would be a huge win for Liverpool, and everyone is saying that, with the run of tough games they have coming up, we will find out more about them soon.
“But they have beaten Chelsea and have enough nous and knowledge in their team to keep their good run going. I know everyone reading this will go for a 1-1 draw, but I don’t like to sit on the fence for big games like this, and neither should you.”