please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Hello and welcome to the official match thread for Wednesday’s Barclays Premier League encounter between Arsenal & Liverpool. The game is scheduled to take place at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday 20th of January 2013 with a kick-off time of 7.45PM. The game will be shown on Sky Sports Two (Build-up begins at 7PM) & talkSPORT have the radio rights to the game. Preview. Arsenal welcome Liverpool to the Emirates tomorrow night in what is an important game for both sides. Both sides were involved in the F.A Cup at the weekend and both sides had contrasting results. Arsenal travelled to nPower Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion in what became a great cup tie. Arsenal took the lead through Olivier Giroud but Ashley Barnes drew Brighton level. Another goal from Giroud, who is settling into English football nicely, gave Arsenal a 2-1 lead before a debut goal from Brighton striker Leonardo Ulloa got Brighton back on level terms once again. However, an 85th minute goal from Arsenal’s top scorer, Theo Walcott, gave Arsenal the victory in a thoroughly pulsating cup tie. It means Arsenal moved into the last 16 of the F.A Cup where they will host Michael Appleton’s Blackburn Rovers. Liverpool, on the other hand, crashed out of the F.A Cup. Brendan Rodgers and his side went to an out-of-form Oldham Athletic. Liverpool did make some changes but there was a strong side put out in the hope that Liverpool would get past Oldham and into the last 16. This didn’t happen. Liverpool were outplayed and fell to a 3-2 defeat. Matt Smith dominated Liverpool throughout the game in an aerial sense and Liverpool’s failure to deal with that contributed to their downfall. Smith gave Oldham Athletic the lead in the 3rd minute after he got above Sebastian Coates in the Liverpool box and powered a header past the Liverpool ‘keeper, Brad Jones. Luis Suarez got Liverpool back on level terms in the 17th minute but Oldham fought back and the killers blows were delivered just before & just after half-time. Smith got his second of the game in the 3rd minute of injury time in the first half before a 47th minute goal from Manchester City loanee Reece Wabara gave Oldham a 3-1 lead. Liverpool were shell-shocked and Rodgers decided changes were needed. The Liverpool manager brought on club captain Steven Gerrard & Stewart Downing in the hope that a change in personnel could bring about an improvement in the Liverpool performance. Those substitutions did change the game slightly and Liverpool did look a lot more threatening after their introduction. Liverpool were given hope as a first Liverpool goal for Joe Allen reduced the deficit to the one goal. Gerrard rifled a shot off the bar in the closing minutes but it wasn’t to be and Liverpool crashed out to lower league opposition. The cup competitions, especially the F.A Cup, have a habit of throwing up surprise results so let’s take a look at Arsenal’s & Liverpool’s league form. You could argue that both sides suffer from inconsistently in the league. Arsenal have won 5 of their last 9 games including a run of four straight victories in the month of December. However, since then, the Arsenal fans have seen just one victory. Though we must state that the two of the four games since that winning run were a home game against Manchester City and a trip to Stamford Bridge. Those are clearly difficult games to get a positive result… Liverpool have also been consistently inconsistent! Their last 9 games have seen six wins & three defeats. Every time Liverpool look to get a run of Premier League victories, they get beaten. This helps to explain why they are sitting 7th in the table. So, league form indicates both sides are consistently inconsistent. Good luck predicting a result… Despite the ‘One step forward, one step back’ that both sides seem to be in at the moment, Arsenal & Liverpool possess some outstanding footballers who can change the game in an instant. For Arsenal, you have to look at the attacking players. The front four that Arsene Wenger uses in the vast majority of Arsenal’s games certainly aren’t short of a goal or two. As you can see here: Theo Walcott: 17 goals. (In all competitions) Olivier Giroud: 13 goals. (In all competitions) Lukas Podolski: 11 goals. (In all competitions) Santi Cazorla: 8 goals. (In all competitions) That front four is capable of a goal (Or seven in the case of Newcastle… and the ability for those players to interchange positions creates an additional problem for the Liverpool defence. Theo Walcott is able to play on the wing and in the central attacking position and the same can be said for Lukas Podolski. Cazorla also has the ability to play across the front three just in behind the lone striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation so the fact that these players can change positions and drift into different spaces means the job of marking them becomes difficult to say the least. I would say that Santi Cazorla will be the key man for Arsenal tomorrow night. The Spanish midfielder has eight goals and eight assists in the league and looks like another excellent piece of business from Wenger at around £12M. Because he normally plays in the central role behind the striker, he has the ability to move into space and create goalscoring opportunities. His eight assists prove he can create goalscoring opportunities for his teammates and Liverpool will look to stop the supply line to the likes of Walcott & Giroud. This job seems likely to be given to Lucas Leiva. Lucas is a more defensive-type midfielder and if he starts, he will sit in front of the Liverpool back four and the battle between him & Cazorla seems likely to have a significant impact on the outcome of the game. For Liverpool, the increase in attacking options will be vital to their performance in the second half of the season. The relationship that is forming between Luis Suarez & Daniel Sturridge will be vital in tomorrow’s game and the rest of the league season. Suarez has 21 goals already this season in all competitions and his ability to create something out of nothing will be important for Liverpool. To counter that, Wenger could go with Thomas Vermaelen & Laurent Koscielny in central defence. This would mean dropping Per Mertesacker but he is far more suited to dealing with the taller, more physical players and Liverpool don’t have these types of players at the club currently. Mertesacker’s lack of pace could also be exposed by the likes of Suarez, Daniel Sturridge & Raheem Sterling. Daniel Sturridge will also be important to Liverpool tomorrow night. The striker, brought from Chelsea early in this transfer window, has 3 goals in 4 games for his new club and a goal tomorrow will create a bit of history. So, an important game for both sides lies in wait. Will Arsenal be able to secure the victory which could move them to within one point of Tottenham Hotspur in 4th place? Or will Liverpool get the victory that would move them above Arsenal in the Premier League table? You’ll find out the answers to these questions and more on the official match thread on the Not606 Liverpool board. Do join in. (That includes the guests that read this thread. Sign up and get involved in the match chat!) Injury News. Arsenal. Lukasz Fabianski: Ankle Injury. Francis Coquelin: Hamstring Injury. Mikel Arteta: Calf Muscle Strain. Liverpool. Martin Kelly: ACL Knee Injury. Jon Flanagan: Knee Injury. Suspension News. Arsenal. No suspensions currently recorded. Liverpool. No suspensions currently recorded. Arsenal 2 - 2 Liverpool Goalscorers: Liverpool... Luis Suarez: 5th minute. Liverpool... Jordan Henderson: 60th minute. Arsenal... Olivier Giroud: 63rd minute. Arsenal... Theo Walcott: 66th minute. Arsenal: Szczesny - Sagna Mertesacker Vermaelen Santos - Ramsey Wilshere - Walcott Cazorla Podolski - Giroud SUBS: Mannone Jenkinson Koscielny Gibbs Diaby Rosicky Oxlade-Chamberlain - Arsenal Substitution: Kieran Gibbs comes off to be replaced by Andre Santos. (37th minute) - Liverpool: Reina - Wisdom Carragher Agger Johnson - Lucas Gerrard Henderson - Downing Suarez Enrique SUBS: Jones Skrtel Allen Shelvey Sterling Sturridge Borini - Liverpool Substitution: Daniel Sturridge comes off to be replaced by Jose Enrique. (71st minute) - YNWA.
Find it tough to see us getting anything out of this. Walcott loves playing us and Arsenal tend to beat us in recent years. However, with Lucas sitting on their midfield, I can see Johsnon/Gerrard and Suarez having some joy against their defence. 1v1
Fixed that for you. No need to thank me... All depends on what sides turn up. Both sides have a habit of producing great performances one week and poor ones the next. Both sides have good players so we should get a good game of football... And a Liverpool win of course!
I think we (Arsenal) need to start this game with real intent, as we did against West Ham where we were rewarded with a 5-1 victory. We barely turned up against City and Chelsea in the first half and we shot ourselves in the foot, as in the 2nd half of those games we were good enough to beat them both. We can't afford to let Suarez start running at our defenders, so we need to make sure we control the game in the midfield. Jack Wilshere has been immense for us this season and we've got Arteta back too, plus we've got options with Diaby and Ramsey and with Rosicky and Cazorla in a more attacking sense. Also, Walcott and Giroud are both scoring plenty, so I'm cautiously optimistic about this game
In all seriousness now, i do think we'll beat you. It'll probably be a tight game, the key is our defence vs Suarez. We handled him at your place, but we were better then than we are now. I'm going 1-0 us, Koscielny from a corner.
I like the very precise nature of your prediction Kyle. However,I'm going for an entertaining 2-2 draw with a Stevie G. penalty. Really looking forward to this one
Thanks for the heads up on how you plan to score... But with the state of our current defending high balls in the box it doesn't sound implausible... But still going for Liverpool 3 gunners 1... With yours being koscielny from a corner...
Before Sunday, I was beginning to believe that we were starting to wake up. Even so I would not have been tempted to predict more than a draw. However, if the public statements by Rodgers have been exceeded behind closed doors then I think that there will be a few players who will be anxious to make ammends. Therefore I'm going out on a limb for a 2 - 0 Liverpool win.
Is Jose Enrique fit enough to start against us? I know he had a dip in form for a while, but before his injury, he looked brilliant again, and he has dealt with Walcott with such ease in the past. He could be a massive player for you if he plays.
If Arsenal turn up from the very start we will beat Pool IMO, however if we play like crap until the 2nd half the game will still be winnable but a whole lot harder. That being said Arsenal vs Liverpool is usually a cracking game and I can't wait to see how things pan out tomorrow.
depends which team turns up for both Arsenal and Liverpool. if both teams turn up and play like we know they can, could be interesting to see what happens, just hope we keep Walcott quite. go for a draw 1-1 (optimistic) but if we get 3pts (hallelujah) make the top a lot more interesting with us closing the gap.
With neither of your teams in top form, i was going to predict a draw. Now that Bluff has said he is watching i am going for an Arsenal win.
Win, lose draw - I just want to see us attacking and pressuring from the first whistle. We tend to start away games (against the bigger teams) very tentatively and invite pressure. Then when we go a goal or two behind, we decide to start playing football.
