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The twists and turns of the Premier League continued on Saturday evening, with Arsenal losing to Bournemouth. Not many people saw that one coming, including us.
Admittedly, Arsenal were down to 10 men after Saliba got sent off after only 30 minutes, but most people would have expected Arsenal to hold on for at least a draw.
What a fantastic start for Arne Slot as the Liverpool manager, sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table after an impressive 2 – 1 win over Chelsea on Sunday.
The Liverpool defence has impressed us greatly, Virgil Van Dyjk is looking better than ever and at this point in time, it is looking like the battle between Liverpool and Man City for the top spot will be an interesting one.
Odds and Predictions
It is quite fascinating how football betting sites have priced up this game. Arsenal are favourites at odds of 2.20, Liverpool are offered at 3.30 and the price for the draw is also 3.30.
We actually think that on this occasion, the bookies have got it wrong in pricing Arsenal up as the favourites, mainly because of the injury to Odegaard and the suspension of Saliba after his sending-off.
To make matters worse, there are question marks about the fitness of Bukayo Saka but even if he does start on Sunday, this Arsenal side is not looking as strong as usual
With that in mind, we are going to stick our necks out for the first one of our tips and go for a Liverpool win with a scoreline of 2 – 1 at odds of 13.0.
For the last one of our predictions, we are going to recommend a wager on Mohamed Salah in the ‘To Score at Any Time’ Market.
Bearing in mind that it is Salah who usually takes the penalties for Liverpool, a bet on this selection at odds of 3.20 is appealing.
Comparison and Statistics
Arsenal and Liverpool have faced each other head-to-head 241 times in competitive matches throughout their history.
Liverpool has won 95 of these H2H matches, Arsenal have won 83 matches and 64 have ended in a draw.
The last five meetings between the two teams have also been pretty evenly matched.
| Past Meetings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04 Feb 2024 | arsenal | 3-1 | liverpool | Premier League |
| 23 Dec 2023 | liverpool | 1-1 | arsenal | Premier League |
| 09 Apr 2023 | liverpool | 2-2 | arsenal | Premier League |
| 09 Oct 2022 | arsenal | 3-2 | liverpool | Premier League |
| 16 Mar 2022 | liverpool | 2-0 | arsenal | Premier League |
Expected Line Ups
We are giving Saka the benefit of the doubt as he was absent from training on Monday, but bear in mind that Arsenal are playing Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday. As they are massive favourites to win that match, Mikel Arteta may choose to rest Saka and keep him fresh for Sunday.
We have already mentioned how good the Liverpool defence is looking, but a quick glance at that forward line should strike terror in their opponents this season.
Salah looks as impressive as ever, as does Gakpo and Nunez.
Arsenal (4-3-3): D. Raya; R. Calafiori, J. Kiwior, Gabriel, B. White; D. Rice, T. Partey, M. Merino; L. Trossard, B. Saka, K. Havertz.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): C. Kelleher; A. Robertson, V. van Dijk, I. Konate, T. Alexander-Arnold; Curtis Jones, R. Gravenberch; C. Gakpo, D. Szoboszlai, M. Salah; D. Nunez.
How Will the Season Pan Out
The more we see of Liverpool, the more we believe that they could be challenging Man City at the top of the table.
They do have strength in depth and even though Arne Slot is a bit of a dark horse to English football fans, it is scary to think that he is still finding his feet in the Premier League.
As for Arsenal, the absence of Odegaard has affected them far more than most people expected, so it makes you wonder if they have what it takes to mount another challenge this season.
We think they will be there or thereabouts but it is looking like a big ask at the moment.
