It’s the beginning of an all new exciting Premier League season for Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool on Sunday at the Emirates. It is certainly quite a thrilling fixture to kick off both these teams’ tournament.
Going into this match, the Liverpool manager has chosen not to think of the pressure mounting on this fixture, more so since it’s at The Emirates and as Liverpool have quite a poor record there. Klopp has also undermined the great importance of the big names in managers now in the league.
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Both teams will go into this fixture with a few injury concerns but Arsene Wenger will struggle a bit more with very limited options at the centre of defence with the absence of key central defenders and some players still not being fully match-fit.
However, Jurgen Klopp has said that it’s not Arsenal’s defensive problem that Liverpool will be thinking about at all but will instead be cautious about the opposition’s play of “long balls” – which they had subjected Liverpool to the last time the two had faced off.
However, injuries won’t hinder this fixture from having the expected scintillating action in this exciting contest between two clubs led by two brilliant managers in this season’s supposed “league of the managers” – with Wenger being a long-contained legend for Arsenal and Klopp being a progressing legend in the eyes of Liverpool fans and many others.
Kickoff and Telecast
Date & Time: Sunday, 14 August 2016 – 4pm (Sunday – 8:30 PM IST)
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Telecast: Star Sports 4 and SS Select HD1
Team News
Arsenal
Granit Xhaka is Arsenal’s only signing of note this summer while Liverpool have signed players like Loris Karius, Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum.
Arsenal will be missing the likes of Per Mertesacker, Gabriel and Jack Wilshere.
Mertesacker is out for 4 months while Gabriel for 6-8 weeks. Calum Chambers and Rob Holding might be their backups in the team as they’ve featured regularly at the centre of defence in their pre-season games.
For Arsenal, Olivier Giroud, like Ozil and Koscielny, is most likely to miss featuring in this opener due to lack of match fitness along with Danny Welbeck and Carl Jenkinson who are out with knee injuries.
Liverpool
Daniel Sturridge missed Liverpool’s last two friendlies due to a hip injury while James Milner picked up a heel injury and was taken off during their match against Barcelona.
The Reds have doubts looming over James Milner, ace forward Daniel Sturridge and Marko Grujic.
Granit Xhaka could most likely make his debut for the Gunners.
Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino might get the start up front along with Dejan Lovren and new signing Ragnar Klavan in defence. Grujic, although has started training again, might find himself on the bench.
Probable Lineups
Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Chambers, Holding, Monreal, Xhaka, Coquelin, Chamberlain, Cazorla, Iwobi, Sanchez.Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Lovren, Klavan, Moreno, Henderson, Can, Lallana, Mane, Firmino, Coutinho.
Form
Liverpool go into this fixture right after a brilliantly shocking 4-0 win against the Spanish champs Barcelona but with not very great results in all of their pre-season matches as a whole.Arsenal go in with much better pre-season performances and results in their bag and the latest 3-2 win over Manchester City but however are at a disadvantage this fixture when it comes to the injury tally. However, that being said, they could by no means be taken as easy.
Key Stats
- Arsenal have just lost one out of their last 9 Premier League fixtures against Liverpool.
- Liverpool have only won one of their last 20 away games against Arsenal in all competitions.
- Arsenal have lost just two of their last 15 home games on opening day.
- Liverpool have scored more Premier League goals than any other team in 2016 so far.
- Liverpool vs Arsenal has seen more hat-tricks than any other fixture in Premier League history.
Prediction
- With the way the aura seems to be running now in the Liverpool team, and with the major confidence boost they must have gotten after beating Barcelona 4-0 with Messi and Suarez in the team – the chances of Liverpool pulling an upset at the Emirates seems quite possible. Also given that Arsenal’s defence won’t be at its strongest gives Liverpool a bit of an advantage with their pretty decent options up front.
- However, Arsenal is one team that you can be pretty confident with about winning a home game and based on their track record against Liverpool, they always manage to come up with something good enough to beat The Reds.
- So although the odds might be leaning in favour of Liverpool, it’s still quite 50-50.
Predicted score: Arsenal 1-3 Liverpool
Betting Odds (bet365) – Arsenal – 7/5, Draw – 5/2, Liverpool – 21/10
