Arsenal v Liverpool mnf 8pm sky sports 1

Charlie19

The two longest serving PL managers come head to head in their third fixture of the new season.

Arsenal have four injury worries with Flamini being a doubt with an ankle problem, while Welbeck, Wilshire and RoSicky are definitely out.

Jordan Henderson is the only doubt for Liverpool, after being subbed against Bournemouth. He started the game with a foot injury, in which he was unable to complete. Joe Allen, Jon Flanngan and Sturridge are liverpools only other crocked players.

http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/33955692

Kirby

Are they playing in Fifa? :P

gosplan

I think Arsenal may do quite well here.

kfallon

Comfortable win for Arsenal, 2-0!

They'll enjoy playing against Liverpool's defence!

RayCon

Sanchez to have a cracker. 3-1 Arsenal.

Decuc500

Liverpool might just get lucky again tonight but Arsenal should win this.

jester77

4-0 to Arsenal - Bellerin, Cazorla, Walcott and Sanchez.

monkey9

Massive game for Liverpool after Man City won yesterday. The title race is really hotting up.

Harry Palmr

Hopefully not a portent for Liverpool

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Buford T. Justice XIX

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Hopefully not a portent for Liverpool

That's a very weak midfield, Harry, though it looks solid with the 5 at the back.

Coutinho, Firminho and Benteke up front, deffo.

happyoutscan

2-2 I'm thinking.

Crash Bang Wall

Easy Arsenal win I think:(

Fitz*

Charlie19 wrote: »

Jordan Henderson is the only doubt for Liverpool, after being subbed against Bournemouth. He started the game with a foot injury, in which he was unable to complete. Joe Allen, Jon Flanngan and Sturridge are liverpools only other crocked players.

Lallana is out too.



2-0 Arsenal I think, unfortunately.

Hoping that Henderson can make it but it doesn't look like he will. Lucas has the experience and big game know-how but lacks that bit of pace & energy to deal with Arsenal's moving midfield. Can has the energy but he is a big lad so short space speed, which is needed to press Arsenal's midfield, is not the greatest. Lacks the big game experience too, in midfield also.

Hoping the front 3 can conjure up something to get me off my seat, and sneak and scalp away at to Arsenal!

martyos121

Charlie19 wrote: »

Didn't know Jose Enrique was running the match thread.

Iused2likebusts

Arsenal to win by 2.

Lucas Hood

Been impressed with Gomez at left back for Liverpool so far but he's no left foot at all he's always coming back inside to his right foot. Can see Arsenal exploiting that tonight.

magentis

0-2 liverpool.

Firminho and Benteke to light up the emirates.

Giggsy11

Lucas Hood wrote: »

Been impressed with Gomez at left back for Liverpool so far but he's no left foot at all he's always coming back inside to his right foot. Can see Arsenal exploiting that tonight.

Big test for him. 18 year old playing out of position and facing one of the best attacking teams in the country.

Mickeroo

Arsenal have only scored in and won one game from five at the Emirates since they beat Liverpool in April. Have a feeling this will be a draw.

cson

Giggsy11 wrote: »

Big test for him. 18 year old playing out of position and facing one of the best attacking teams in the country.

More than likely against Ramsey cutting inside and Bellerin on the touch line. Can see some success for us on that side of the pitch.

Players should be up for this so hopefully a win of any kind - though I think Rodgers will likely set up to frustrate after what happened last season.

bluefinger

Rodgers to set team up for a draw trying to sneak a win. Arsenal can't afford to lose this. 0-0.

Giggsy11

cson wrote: »

More than likely against Ramsey cutting inside and Bellerin on the touch line. Can see some success for us on that side of the pitch.

Players should be up for this so hopefully a win of any kind - though I think Rodgers will likely set up to frustrate after what happened last season.

Any reason why Ox or Walcott doesn't start on the right wing?

keano_afc

Depends on Arsenal's mentality. They are the better team, and should really be winning comfortably. If Liverpool come with the Emirates blueprint (pack midfield, wait for your first chance to score, take it and win 1-0) they might have success. Are they that good defensively though?

1-1 for me. Lots of Arsenal possession, but unable to turn it in to goals.

Connavar

keano_afc wrote: »

Depends on Arsenal's mentality. They are the better team, and should really be winning comfortably. If Liverpool come with the Emirates blueprint (pack midfield, wait for your first chance to score, take it and win 1-0) they might have success. Are they that good defensively though?

1-1 for me. Lots of Arsenal possession, but unable to turn it in to goals.

Hard to tell where liverpool are defensively at the moment. Didn't give away too many chances in the two opening games but still looked like a better team would be able to punish them.
I think both teams need to step up from their two openers for this one

redzerdrog

bluefinger wrote: »

Rodgers to set team up for a draw trying to sneak a win. Arsenal can't afford to lose this. 0-0.

Rodgers does not know how to set up a team for a draw

Turtyturd

Won't see the game but Liverpool have the better team so would expect an Invincibles win here.

Invincibles 2 (Benteke, Coutinho)

Sanchez 1 (Sanchez)

Panthro

Cech to play a blinder, keep a clean sheet.

Alfred Borden

Should be looking to improve our goal difference here by at least +3.

wandatowell

2-1 Liverpool.

Don't trust them Gunners as a defensive unit atm.

greendom

Both teams still very much finding their way so far this season so difficult to predict how things will pan out tonight. Hopefully home advantage will be telling.

Ranchu

Benteke could be the difference against a poor defence. Score draw for me though.

klose

Have to fancy arsenal, bar one game wenger has always done well v Liverpool and giroud always bags against us too. Would happily take a dour 0-0 draw.

JohnDaniels

greendom wrote: »

Both teams still very much finding their way so far this season so difficult to predict how things will pan out tonight. Hopefully home advantage will be telling.

Yeah I'm finding this incredibly hard to call as both teams look so far from what they should be capable of when they get up to speed. Looks like Liverpool will have to make changes with Henderson/Lallana injured. I do think Arsenal have more chance of finding another gear and some form tonight.

highgiant1985

Giggsy11 wrote: »

Any reason why Ox or Walcott doesn't start on the right wing?

No particular reason I've read of but who knows!

Line up predicted here: http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/team-news/

Magico Gonzalez

Neither side have looked particularly convincing but that's to be expected early doors, a draw suits Liverpool here more than Arsenal I think, might shape tactics. A lot of talk about Lucas coming back to give some extra protection.

Sanchez will be the difference I expect. Not sure Liverpool can shackle him. Will come down to that. Not at all convinced by Arsenal's defence this year, form seems to have deserted the CB pairing so I do expect Benteke to give them a torrid time. Liverpool will play long to him, Arsenal will faff about endlessly until some Sanchez magic decides it. Wouldn't mind to see an Ings - Benteke front 2, not sure this is the right game to start Firmino if he isn't fit but it would be nice to see him "arrive" tonight if he is good to go.

Mickeroo

Has Ings played much in the previous two games? Not watched any of Liverpool's matches thus far, had kind of forgotten they signed him.

Bobby Baccala

A nervey 1-0 arsenal

monkey9

Mickeroo wrote: »

Has Ings played much in the previous two games? Not watched any of Liverpool's matches thus far, had kind of forgotten they signed him.

Hasn't played a minute yet. Just been on the bench.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Mickeroo wrote: »

Has Ings played much in the previous two games? Not watched any of Liverpool's matches thus far, had kind of forgotten they signed him.

Not a minute so far. He will probably be used in cup games but I would like to see him up top to feed off Benteke and be replaced by Sturridge next month.

rob316

Liverpool winning would lay down a big statement.

Ganymede Glow

As has already been said, pack the midfield, press them high up get in their faces and take our chances and we could get something. Have yet to see Coutinho have a good game at the Emirates so hopefully he changes that tonight.

I would be interested to hear from our resident gunners as to how they have handled Benteke in the past? Has he given you cause for concern? We'll need to handle the threat from Arsenal's movement in and around the box and don't let them get a grip on the midfield, cut off the supply to Sanchez and co.

I'd be happy to start with Clyne and Skrtel, less so with Lovren and Gomez. I like Gomez but this game has come a bit too early for him so we'll need Moreno's greater experience but he'll need to keep reins on for large periods of the game unless Arsenal are having an absolute mare at the back. Lovren is just too shaky at the moment when people are running at him and in behind him, I have a feeling if Arsenal hit their stride they'll dazzle him so the less shakier Sakho should start.

Hopefully Jordan Henderson is fit, we'll need his energy along with Milner. If Henderson is out, which looks likely, it simply has to be Emre Can in there. Call me crazy but there is leadership qualities in that lad but he needs to be told that his role tonight first and foremost should be to shield the defence, stay composed and keep the ball rolling. Milner is a no brainer, he's reliable, he'll run all night and hopefully he doesn't let the Arsenal midfield settle into any sort of stride.

To be honest i'd put Joe Allen in there in tonight. I think he'd make life hard for the Arsenal midfield, he's always relatively comfortable on the ball and he knows Aaron Ramsey's game more than anyone else in the team.

Jordan Ibe and Philippe Coutinho are no brainers. Ibe is intelligent enough to drop back if the opposition are getting on top of us, he has a good work ethic and will always cause problems going forward with his blistering pace. Coutinho is star man at the moment so it's likely if we score he will have a hand in it. Probably wont see as much of the ball tonight as he normally enjoys so he's going to need smart, which he always is to be fair. If players around him are making space and making the right runs, he will find them it's as simple as that. He's not too partial to the odd bit of Magico either

Benteke starts up front. Whatever happens tonight i've seen enough so far to say he will give Arsenal's defense a hard time if he keeps his form going. He'll be high on confidence after last week. If I were Rodgers i'd have been showing him videos of Drogba's hassling of Arsenal's defence in recent times. We probably wont get many clear cut chances so he'll need to be 100% on concentration and be ready for anything that falls his way. No doubt we'll see Firmino at some stage, still not 100% but hopefully tonight is the night he announces himself to the Premier League. If we play well there's no doubt we can score goals against this Arsenal team, another repeat of last week's game and sadly we'll be beaten at what is a very difficult place for us to go.

JohnDaniels

^^^Allen is also injured.

Ganymede Glow

JohnDaniels wrote: »

^^^Allen is also injured.

Of course he would be wouldn't he? **** never liked him anyway

Kerrigooney

JohnDaniels wrote: »

^^^Allen is also injured.

As usual.

I like him but he's a bit of a Wilshire or Sturridge on the injury front.

Going for a score draw,more in hope than expectation.

monkey9

I'd absolutely take a point right now. A draw tonight and beat West Ham next weekend at Anfield and that would be a very decent start to the campaign going into the international break.

But I do fear for tonight. I just have this three nil scoreline in my head. Some Liverpool fans think we are better defensively this season but I'm not so sure.

Ok, we haven't conceded a goal yet, but that is down to a refereeing error in the Bournemouth game. They had a few other chances in that game too.

Lovern always has a mistake in him and I can see him being ripped apart tonight.

Hopefully, they surprise me tonight. I don't care how they do it, but a draw would be a fantastic result for us.

8-10

Lucas Hood wrote: »

Been impressed with Gomez at left back for Liverpool so far but he's no left foot at all he's always coming back inside to his right foot. Can see Arsenal exploiting that tonight.

This is the main worry for Gomez really. He looks solid positionally and in the tackle though he's gotten a yellow in each game so far for holding onto players. For those people who haven't seen him play yet I think the above is a good point - have a look at how many touches he has with his left foot. Still, for a guy who just turned 18 this year and hadn't played a competitive game at let back before his Liverpool debut v Stoke, he's looked pretty damn good. Massive test against Arsenal's attackers tonight though.

I reckon Liverpool will still come away with the win. Would love to see a goal for either Benteke or Firmino, the latter of which has looked very very poor in his limited minutes this season. Hopefully he gets into the game easier by playing from the start. Team should be:

Mignolet

Clyne - Skrtel - Lovren - Gomez

Lucas

Milner - Can

Coutinho

Benteke - Firmino

billymitchell

Cant see Liverpool winning this from what I have seen so far this season. If our attack continues to function like it did in the first couple of games, then I cant see where we will get the goal from

8-10

billymitchell wrote: »

Cant see Liverpool winning this from what I have seen so far this season. If our attack continues to function like it did in the first couple of games, then I cant see where we will get the goal from

Set piece or Coutinho

rob316

rob316 wrote: »

Liverpool winning would lay down a big statement.

"Wenger out".

Ganymede Glow

Ganymede Glow wrote: »

I would be interested to hear from our resident gunners as to how they have handled Benteke in the past? Has he given you cause for concern? We'll need to handle the threat from Arsenal's movement in and around the box and don't let them get a grip on the midfield, cut off the supply to Sanchez and co.

Well last season Arsenal played Villa 3 times and beat them 12-0 on aggregate. :P Couple of years ago Arsenal couldn't handle him on the opening day and lost 3-1 at the Emirates, Arsenal won the return fixture 2-1 with Benteke scoring 3 goals over the 2 games.

Fitz*

Arsenal fan I know said that Benteke was great against them a few seasons ago but Mertesacker cleaned him in the FA cup final last season. I do remember Benteke doing nothing of note in that final alright. How the feck did we lost that semi to Villa!?