Arsenal will welcome Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side to the Emirates Stadium today with both teams in top form.
Unai Emery will be taking on the passionate German boss for the first time as Gunners boss, with his only previous encounter with Klopp coming in the Europa League final, when his Seville side come away with the trophy.
Times have changed since then, with the Reds following up that near miss with a much bigger one in the Champions League final last year, and the away team are touted as the favourites for this encounter, although you would be mad to view them as a value bet.
We come into the match with 12 wins from our last 13 matches in all competitions, scoring a whopping 35 goals in that time, and writing us off on form alone would be a tad on the crazy side…
Unfortunately more than form will affect our selection process as Emery actually has to make some decisions on his line-up. Hector Bellerin will face a late fitness test to see if he is able to feature, with Lichtsteiner ready to fill in should the Spaniard be ruled out. At left-back we are expected to be without BOTH Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac, leaving Maitland-Niles tasked with keeping Liverpool’s wide men at bay. We also have Sokratis, Mohamed Elneny, Laurent Koscielny and Dinos Mavropanos all missing, leaving Rob Holding with a big job at hand today.
Expected XI:
Leno
Bellerin(if fit) Mustafi Holding Maitland-Niles
Xhaka Torreira
Ozil Ramsey Aubameyang
Lacazette
Betting:
An Arsenal win will certainly not come easy, especially with question marks in defence, but we will score goals, and I expect us to continue our rich vein of form with two or more goals.
– Arsenal to score over 1.5 goals 11/8 (2.375) with 138.com
What about it being near certain to have more than 3 goals in total?
That is 6/5 with 138.com, but surely it will be a very highscoring match?.
If you prefer to take on a safe bet, then I recommend the safest bet of the day. Selecting both teams to bag a goal.
– Will both teams score goals this evening? New 138.com customers get 30/1 for both Arsenal and Liverpool to score! Otherwise the price is only 1.5!
I can’t say that I’m brimming with confidence with our worries over our main defensive options, but I seriously hope that Emery starts with both Aubameyang and Lacazette up front to give us the firepower to score as many (if not more) than our rivals. COYG
What are your predictions for today? Anyone quietly confident?
Pat J