Mikel Arteta, Head coach of Arsenal looks on.
Mikel Arteta, Head coach of Arsenal looks on.
Arsenal travel to Anfield on Sunday as reigning champions with the meanest defence in the Premier League, yet the record that has followed them to Merseyside for more than a decade is far less flattering.
The Gunners sit second on 21 points after eight matches, level with leaders Manchester City and six clear of Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool in fourth, having scored 13 and conceded just five, while the Reds have scored 11 and conceded eight from four wins, three draws and a single defeat.
Speaking at his press conference on Friday, as published by Arsenal’s official website, Mikel Arteta was asked whether Liverpool should be considered title challengers.
“I think all the top clubs are certainly title challengers, and it’s so early in the season, when you look at the squad, the manager that they have and the history for sure.”
“We expect a big game on Sunday; we’re looking forward to it, for sure.”
“It’s 14 years that we haven’t won there, so it’s time to do it.”
That run dates back to 2 September 2012, when Arteta himself played in the side that won by two goals to nil through Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla, and Arsenal have gone 13 league visits without a win there since, although Arteta insisted it was an opportunity, pointing out that he inherited grounds where the club had gone 18, 20 and even 22 years without winning before his team put those droughts to bed.
The numbers explain where that belief comes from, because Arsenal have kept a joint high five clean sheets this season, faced only 24 shots on target and conceded an expected goals figure of 6.2, the lowest in the division.
Liverpool have tightened up considerably themselves since Iraola’s first two league games both finished level at two goals apiece, and no side has kept more Premier League clean sheets since the start of September than their four in six matches.
Alexander Isak has driven much of that improvement at the other end, scoring six goals in his last six league outings to account for two thirds of the team’s goals in that spell, and he has found the net in two of his last three appearances against Arsenal.
The Reds also arrive on five straight wins in all competitions and are unbeaten in their last four league meetings with the Gunners, whose own week was disrupted by a League Cup exit at League Two Fleetwood Town that also cost them Max Dowman, who is only 16, to a three match ban, with the FA releasing a statement on the incident.
Arteta and Iraola grew up playing together at Antiguoko in San Sebastian, and the last time Arsenal arrived at Anfield in the league as defending champions, Neil Mellor’s 90th minute winner sent them home beaten, so a home win this time would cut the gap to three points and leave Arteta’s warm words looking rather more uncomfortable.
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