We look ahead to Sunday’s Premier League game at Anfield with our Liverpool vs Arsenal prediction and preview. Which way will this clash of the title rivals go?
Liverpool vs Arsenal: The Key Stats
The Opta supercomputer gives Liverpool the edge, with the Reds holding a 44.9% win probability.
However, Liverpool are winless in six Premier League matches against Arsenal (D4 L2).
Mohamed Salah has netted 11 Premier League goals against Arsenal, with only Harry Kane (14) and Wayne Rooney (12) ever netting more against the Gunners.
Liverpool having maximum points from their opening two Premier League games is not, on the face of it, a surprise. But that would be without taking into account the smash-and-grab nature of their 3-2 win over the 10 men of Newcastle United on Monday.
And that is also before adding in that in both of their league outings this term, Liverpool have thrown away 2-0 leads.
Federico Chiesa turned the game from the bench against Bournemouth at Anfield on Matchday 1, and then Rio Ngumoha became the fourth-youngest scorer in Premier League history to seal that remarkable win over Newcastle.
Newcastle 3-2 Liverpool
If we were to make a sweeping statement just two games into the season, then it seems that Liverpool’s firepower is getting a vulnerable defence out of trouble.
Arne Slot admitted that Liverpool struggled with Newcastle’s physicality last time out, and when it comes to physicality and fierce defending, there aren’t many teams better than their next opponents.
The pressure is on Mikel Arteta to go one step further this season after Arsenal have finished second in the top flight in each of the past three campaigns.
Arsenal brought in Viktor Gyökeres to fill their need for a striker, while they have added former Liverpool target Martín Zubimendi to the midfield, and Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze to the attack.
But it’s at the back where Arsenal continue to shine. They have kept two clean sheets, beating Manchester United 1-0 and Leeds United 5-0, one of only two teams yet to concede in the Premier League this season along with Tottenham.
So, it will be a stern defence going up against an excellent attack in an early tussle between two likely title contenders.
Indeed, this is the earliest the previous season’s top two sides are meeting in a Premier League campaign since 2017-18, when Chelsea won 2-1 at Tottenham in Matchday 2.
Arsenal xGA
But while Liverpool may have fallen short of their standards defensively, Slot’s team have been excellent going forward, as they have been since the Dutchman took charge.
In fact, Liverpool have found the net in 98% of their Premier League matches under Slot (39/40) – the highest percentage of games scored in by any manager with 15 or more games in the competition’s history.
The Reds have scored 93 league goals since the start of last season. They have netted 17 more goals than any other top-flight team in that time, while also having the highest xG (86.4).
Liverpool are now on the joint-third-longest Premier League scoring streak, having netted in their last 36 games in the competition. Only Arsenal (55, between 2001 and 2002) and Tottenham (39, between 2023 and 2024) have scored in more consecutive matches in the competition, and Slot’s team are approaching a full calendar year since they last failed to find the net in a top-flight game (1-0 vs Nottingham Forest on 14 September 2024).
Liverpool Longest Scoring Runs in top-flight history
Liverpool were clinical in the extreme against Newcastle, scoring from three of their five attempts. Indeed, between Liverpool scoring their second goal through Hugo Ekitiké in the 46th minute, they did not have another attempt until Ngumoha curled home deep in stoppage time.
On top of their scoring streak, Liverpool also love a late goal. They have won more Premier League games via last-minute goals than any other side in the history of the competition, with Ngumoha’s strike being the 46th. Arsenal rank second on the list with 34.
Most 90th Minute Winners in Premier League History
It was a teenage dream for Ngumoha, who became just the second 16-year-old to score a winning goal in a Premier League game, after Wayne Rooney in October 2002 for Everton vs Arsenal.
He also became the second-youngest debut Premier League scorer in history (16 years, 361 days) with his goal against Newcastle, behind James Vaughan (16 years, 270 days in 2005). The current youngest player to score in his first two games is Federico Macheda in 2009 (17 years, 232 days).
Arsenal’s 5-0 defeat of Leeds did come at a cost, with Arteta losing both Martin Ødegaard and Bukayo Saka to injury.
Saka went off with a hamstring problem just before Gyökeres opened his Arsenal account to make it 3-0 to the Gunners, while Ødegaard had gone off with a shoulder problem in the first half.
Saka looks set to be out for up to a month. Ødegaard, meanwhile, was named in Norway’s squad for their upcoming international fixtures, though he did look in extreme discomfort as he left the field.
Visiting the home of the champions without two key attackers would put even more strain on Arsenal’s defence, of course, so it is a good job for Arteta that the Gunners have been so resolute.
When Saka has not featured for Arsenal in the league since he broke into the team, the Gunners’ average goals per game drops to 1.5 from 2.0 with the England winger in the side, though in Madueke, they now have a very capable player to step into his shoes.
Should Ødegaard also miss out, that could see Eze make his Arsenal debut, but there could also be even more onus on Arsenal’s set-piece threat.
Since the start of 2023-24, Arsenal have scored 33 corner goals in the Premier League – more than any other side in Europe’s big-five leagues in that timeframe. The Gunners have scored from a corner in their last three games – they have never done so in four games in a row before.
And if Arteta’s team were to come away with a win and a clean sheet, it would be the first time Arsenal have won their opening three league matches without conceding since 1924-25.
Jurriën Timber could well be decisive at both ends. He has had a hand in five goals in his last five Premier League starts (two goals, three assists).
In the win over Leeds, the Dutchman became the first defender to score two goals and get an assist in a match since Martin Skrtel in March 2014 for Liverpool against Cardiff City.
Liverpool vs Arsenal Head-to-Head
Liverpool are winless in six Premier League encounters with the Gunners (D4 L2), which is their longest run without victory against Arsenal in the league since a run of eight between October 2007 and April 2011.
However, Arsenal are winless in their last 12 games at Anfield since a 2-0 victory in September 2012, when Arteta featured in midfield for the Gunners.
The last four games between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield in all competitions have been drawn, including in May when Arsenal clawed themselves back from 2-0 down in a game that came after Liverpool had already won the Premier League title.
Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal
Salah, meanwhile, has netted 11 Premier League goals against Arsenal, with only Harry Kane (14) and Rooney (12) scoring more against the Gunners.
One of Salah’s goals against the Gunners came for Chelsea, while the other 10 have been for Liverpool – only Roberto Firmino has more against Arsenal just for the Reds (11).
Salah Goals vs Arsenal in the Premier League
And despite Arsenal’s defensive record, you should expect goals in this one.
Only Liverpool vs Spurs (206) has seen more goals of all Premier League fixtures than Arsenal vs Liverpool (198). Since the 2015-16 campaign, it has seen the most goals of any fixture (78 in 20 games).
Liverpool vs Arsenal Prediction
Liverpool are backed as the favourites in this clash against Arsenal, with Slot’s side winning 44.9% of the pre-game Opta supercomputer simulations.
Arsenal, meanwhile, have a 29.7% chance of taking all three points, while this match finished level in 25.4% of the supercomputer’s 10,000 sims.
Liverpool vs Arsenal Prediction Opta 2025-26
Coming into the clash, Liverpool are ahead of Arsenal in the supercomputer’s season projections for the Premier League title. The Reds currently win the league in 39.5% of the simulations, with Arsenal winning the title in 31.4% of them.
Arsenal vs Liverpool Predicted Lineups
Liverpool: Alisson, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ibrahima Konaté, Virgil van Dijk, Milos Kerkez, Ryan Gravenberch, Curtis Jones, Mohamed Salah, Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo, Hugo Ekitiké.
Head coach: Arne Slot
Arsenal: David Raya, Jurriën Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Riccardo Calafiori, Ethan Nwaneri, Martín Zubimendi, Declan Rice, Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli, Viktor Gyökeres.
Head coach: Mikel Arteta
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 10,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off on Sunday afternoon at Anfield, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Premier League Stats Opta
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