Footballing Weekly: Arsenal, Liverpool battle to rule the English Premier League roost on Christmas
Long-time rivals have issues to solve ahead of their top-of-the-table clash at Anfield, as they hope to widen gaps on Manchester City
SINGAPORE — The busy festive period of the English Premier League is coming up, and what better way of ushering the Christmas and New Year festivities than a good old top-of-the-table clash between two long-time rivals challenging for the title - Liverpool and Arsenal.
The two sides meet on Saturday (23 December) with the Gunners (39 points) just one point ahead of the Reds in a tight tussle so far atop the league. Together with third-placed Aston Villa (38 points), they are eager to extend the distance between themselves and defending champions Manchester City (34 points), who are away at the Club World Cup competition.
Arsenal have won four out of their last five league matches - the single loss being the 0-1 defeat by Villa on 10 December. They have shown that their unexpected title challenge last season was no fluke, with new signings Declan Rice and Kai Havertz beginning to assert their talents and scoring crucial winning goals against Luton and Brentford in recent weeks.
Rice, in particular, has been a vital injection of dynamism in the Gunners midfield, bossing games at both ends of the field. While eyebrows were raised over his hefty £100 million transfer fee from West Ham during the off-season, fans are now claiming that the fee is actually a bargain steal.
But despite the wins rolling in, Arsenal lack a clinical striker to convert their stylish football into goals aplenty. Even though Havertz is starting to find his scoring boots, the likes of Gabriel Jesus and even Bukayo Saka are not yet deadly enough to dominate the scoring charts.
Against top sides like Liverpool, could the Gunners find it tough going to find goals against such an elite side? They will be hoping Havertz, Jesus and Saka could offer more assuredness in front of the goal.
Goals drying up among Reds forward line
Meanwhile, Liverpool also have their own scoring problems, with goals drying up among their formidable forwards of Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo. Only the evergreen Mohamed Salah continues to find the net with any regularity.
However, other Reds players are chipping with the goals, even though they endured a frustrating 0-0 draw against Manchester United last Sunday. That has kept the Merseyside club hot on the tails of Arsenal despite an off-season midfield revamp with the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Wataru Endo coming in.
With only one defeat so far this season, Liverpool are ahead of schedule in their rebuild, but will the current squad be able to subdue the Gunners at Anfield? It will be a fascinating test of their title credentials, especially after they have shown immense recovery powers this season, gaining 18 out of their 38 points from being behind in their league matches.
It all adds up to a highly-anticipated clash at Anfield between the long-time rivals. Which of their front lines be able to find the breakthrough for the crucial win?
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