Arsenal vs. Liverpool – 3 Previews For the Price of One!

October 26, 2007 | 80 Comments

Editor’s note: Hmm…must be a big game coming up or something, as this week we have not one, not two, but three previews. Thanks for the contributions, here they are in the order we received them:

From live_dont_exist: 

Been a while since I dropped in here due to too much work so thought tonight might be a good time to revisit and do a Game Preview. Hope this gets puts up ;)

First for the hosts. Liverpool and Arsenal share some great camraderie over the years with even rival fans showing some wonderful respect rare to be seen in a modern game for each other. I like Liverpool a lot and if anyone had to win titles apart from us I wouldn’t really mind it if it was Pool. As of now though I hope they lose every game they play :)

Coming to the teams now Reina has not ever impressed me, I do not know why because people rate him very highly. He makes many mistakes as well coupled with the odd brilliant save. I’d say Old Jens is better..but Jens can go now so lets not talk about that. Hyppia has had a nightmare lately .. 2 consecutive own goals and Daniel Agger is still out. SO whoz he gonna play there — Mascherano?? or is he gonna play Paletta…the same guy Our rampaging Beast made a mockery of :) .Whats that …Senderos is a better third defender .. oh wait :) … Carragher will put in a monster performance and Finnan and Riise will be up for it but there’s a gaping hole at CB there right now.

Pennant will start for sure coz of his crosses and Gerrard will as well. If Mascherano is not at CB and I don’t think he will be there he will start as well. Alonso will be on the bench if fit at best and Kewell is injured as usual so Babel will start this one with Benayoun off the bench. I’m not sure Crouch will start but Voronin has been so poor lately (didnt see him against Besiktas) and Crouch scored a hatrick last time round so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him with Kuyt in a 4-4-1-1

Arsenal are rocking right now and the back 5 will not change unless there’s an injury. For that matter apart from Eduardo coming in for Theo and Mozart for Eboue with Hleb switching to the right I see nothing changing at all. Mascherano will nip at Cesc all day and it’ll be up to the Flamster , a big game player to nullify that threat. Clichy needs to get his interceptions spot on — Pennant is an excellent crosser and no one in our team is winning with Crouch on the headers if he plays. Ade is going to torture Hyppia and Carragher again and I see him and Mozart scoring on Sunday.

Won’t be surprised though if AW plays a 4-5-1 with Hleb behind Ade and switches to a 4-4-2 with Theo if and when we’re down.

Liverpool’s form means nothing going in to this one but Arsenal are on a high this time round and I’ll dare to say:
Liverpool 0 – Arsenal 2

From DannyT:

While everyone is getting carried away, and to some extent it’s hard not to, I think it’s worth focusing on the fact that Sunday’s game will NOT be easy.

In my opinion to underestimate Liverpool would be folly. It may be worth remembering that unlike Man Utd and Chelsea, Liverpool have not lost a league game this season and have only lost two at home in the last two seasons. No matter how well Arsenal are playing it is very unlikely to be a cakewalk.

Personally, I still have a few reservations about this Arsenal team despite being absolutely delighted with how the season is panning out. Maybe it’s my cautious nature, but I think this Liverpool game could be problematic.

My main concern is Benitez tactical moves vs Wenger’s. Wenger is rolling with pretty much the same team throughout this winning run, but I would like to seem a change. I think Gilberto has to play in this game. His aerial ability at set pieces might be crucial. We should know that Gallas and Toure are usually all over the place on crosses, so we will need the extra height and Gilberto’s added defensive expertise. And talking of crosses, Almunia still worries me. He’s a great shot stopper, but on crosses when he’s not making dodgy one-fisted punches he’s usually pinned to his goal line.

I think Benitez will be clever and start with Crouch who I think could be a real handful as he was in Arsenal’s 4-1 defeat at Anfield at the end of the season. Benitez will certainly try to ensure crosses are coming in from all angles and at set-pieces, and maybe this is an area of Arsenal’s defensive strength that needs to be proven. We’ll see how good Sagna is how much Clichy has improved by the amount of damage limitation they can muster in this area.

Having said all this, personally I don’t think there’s any way Wenger can drop Almunia now, especially after Lehmann’s recent comments. But I do think it’s a mistake to play Flamini ahead of Gilberto in this match. It only takes one set piece fumble to go behind and Liverpool’s confidence will be instantly restored.

This is a massive test for Arsenal’s young guns and I can’t wait to see how they cope, it will be fascinating. Something tells me this could be a high scoring classic which could go either way. Arsenal’s 7-0 thrashing of Slavia Prague will certainly have little bearing on this game, hopes of sitting back while Arsenal run rings around a team bereft of confidence just seems to fanciful. If that does happen then Arsenal have truly arrived.

And from fstanin:

On Sunday, the two remaining teams in the Premiership without a league loss meet at Anfield.

At this enjoyable moment, these are two teams seemingly headed in different directions. As we Gooners have enjoyed the performances of our squad of late, the red-colored Merseyside fandom is in a state of high anxiety. After Wednesday evening’s loss in Turkey, the Reds have made it look like the unthinkable could happen in the Champion’s League group stage – elimination – and only 3 of the 6 group stage match days have passed. Yes, the team that prides itself on being Britain’s answer to Europe’s big clubs could go down before Christmas, or even Thanksgiving.

The combantants’ respective managers also seem to be of different moods. Our leader, Arsene Wenger, just celebrated his 58th birthday in fine style (and he looks about Rafa’s age – 47). He unveiled his own bronze bust, and he led an old-fashioned butt kicking at the Emirates Tuesday night that has the British Isles’ football community, not to mention the Continent’s observers (and even a wee small fraction of us Americans) talking big about the Gunners, their gaudy record, and their beautiful style of play. Even our English lad is being reconsidered for reinstatement to the national team. What a difference a couple of goals make.

Then there is Rafa. His predicament is making him look a lot older than our man Arsene. Wednesday’s loss, combined with his decision to pull the heart and soul of Club Red off the pitch for playing with “too much passion” in the latest episode of Scouser Derby (argued by some as a brilliant, ballsy move) has got the Liverpool supporters looking at Rafa’s rotation scheme as Rafa’s Rotational Russian Roulette…and the gun is pointed at his own head.

So these two teams might be headed in opposite directions at the moment, but they are soon to collide head on at one of the world’s best venues. Let’s just hope that both clubs continue in the same direction after the match as before.

Predictions? Not from me. But I had a dream. It was 1-1 after 90 and the Gunners scored twice in stoppage time to end it 3-1. The boys huddled at midfield, Wenger did a sideline jib, and Rafa ran for the nearest exit…

Posted by dwinkler | Filed Under Game Preview