{"id":11230,"date":"2025-05-10T17:39:01","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T16:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11230"},"modified":"2025-05-12T11:37:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T10:37:24","slug":"arsenal-at-anfield-fired-up-or-flat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11230","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal at Anfield: Fired up or Flat?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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And so to Anfield for Sunday’s late afternoon Premier League game, with the weight of Wednesday’s disappointment hanging heavily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a moment this season when it seemed that this fixture could potentially be the league decider, and we would be summoning the spirit of ’89 to carry us to another famous title. As we know, that moment is long gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, a team that has repeatedly been dealt cruel hands this season has played them with resilience, self-belief and tactical acumen that would make George Graham’s charges proud. Mikel Arteta will have to wring out every last drop of those qualities in the three remaining games to secure second place, still within our control, and ensure we return to the Champions League next season among Europe’s elite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anfield<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anfield has not been a happy hunting ground for us. Sunday will be our 101st league fixture there across the old Divisions One and Two and the Premier League. We have won just 24. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first visit was in January 1894, but we did not achieve our first win there until September 1919. Henry White scored a brace, and Billy Blyth added a late third in a come-from-behind 3-2 victory in pouring rain before 12,000 spectators. We would have to wait until December 1927 for the next win, a 2-0. Jimmy Brain and Syd Hoar were the goalscorers in a game on which the newspapers reported that Liverpool were so poor that towards the end, their fans were resorting to ‘ironical cheers’ whenever a Liverpool player touched the ball. Better weather, however, brought the crowd to over 50,000. Fair weather Scousers, in all respects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our most recent league victory there was in September 2012, a game in which Arteta played, and Lucas Podolski and Santi Cazorla scored the goals in a 2-0 win. However, we haven’t lost there since 2021; our last two league visits have ended in draws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arteta has a mixed managerial record against Jurgen Klopp (played 14 in all competitions, won five, drew three, and lost six), but he doesn’t have much of a track record against Klopp’s successor, Arne Slot. Their teams have met once: the 2-2 draw at Highbury earlier this season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I commend GSD’s match report<\/a> of that game. As you may recall, a team stripped of players due to injury and suspension had what would have been the winning goal overturned by a controversial refereeing decision. (Surely not, I hear you cry!) The ref that day, Anthony Taylor, will again be on the whistle on Sunday. (Surely not, I hear you cry!) No PL ref has handed out more red cards or awarded more penalties this season. (I just hear you cry.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arne Slot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slot deserves credit for applying tactical tweaks to Klopp’s side, making Liverpool the deserved title winners this season. Bonus points go to his conditioning coaches for keeping the full squad fit throughout. However, most credit must go to Liverpool’s owners for patiently building a title-capable squad over successive transfer windows\u2014a lesson for our boo-boys calling for Arteta out for want of a striker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dutchman’s crucial adjustment to the German’s setup was to default to using Ryan Gravenberch as a single pivot in midfield, with a line of three attacking midfielders in front of him, instead of a box midfield in which Trent Alexander-Arnold inverted from full-back to be one half of a two-man base. Slot\u2019s change freed Alexander-Arnold to play higher and wider on the right, making better use of his crossing skills and allowing Mo Salah to cut inside from the wing, as he loves to do. Only if Gravenberch was being overrun would Alexander-Arnold tuck back into his old Klopp role of inverted full-back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I expect Slot to start his strongest team on Sunday, unlike last weekend’s loss at Chelsea. The names will be familiar, so I will skip my customary descriptors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alisson should be in goal, with Connor Bradley at right back (more on why not Alexander-Arnold below), Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 and Virgil van Dijk, making his 300th PL appearance, as the centre backs, and Andy Robertson on the left. Gravenberch will be the DM, with Alexis Mac Alister and Dominik Szoboszlai as the attacking midfielders. Salah, making his 299th PL appearance, Luis D\u00edaz and Cody Gakpo will be up front, although Slot could perm his front three from any of that trio plus Federico Chiesa, Darwin N\u00fa\u00f1ez and Diogo Jota. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is what building squad depth looks like in practice: having quality substitutions that allow starters to rest early or to chase games when necessary, and like-for-like replacements to cover for injuries or suspensions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defender Joe Gomez is the sole unavailability due to injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his pre-match press conference, Arteta was composed and reflective (‘In that clinical moment, the ball goes to the post, out, in, that’s the fine margins. So I think what we have to try to do is to amplify the margins.’) and, at times, wistful about the game’s vagaries (‘Hakimi, he shouldn’t be in the game for the last 10 minutes of the first leg, so he could not play the second game and score when the expected goals was 0.07. These are all random things in football.’). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was not ‘spikey’, as one media headline suggested, despite some goading on the need for a 25-goal-a-season striker, of which, incidentally, there are only two so far this season in the five top European leagues, Salah and Barca’s Robert Lewandowski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal players will form a guard of honour for the Liverpool squad before the match. Arteta said the hosts deserve that as they have been the best team this season. Yet, he is also sending a motivational message to our own, to see out the final three games strongly and proudly to finish the season ‘in the manner that we deserve’. The nightmare scenario is an end-of-season implosion that costs us Champions League football next season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, I believe most of the battle-hardened but war-weary warriors of Paris will start:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Calafiori<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partey, \u00d8degaard, Rice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka, Merino, Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calafiori would provide MLS a needed break from the firing line and may be a better option against Salah. White for Timber is another possible change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outcome will depend on how Liverpool approach the game as much as on whether Arteta has refocused his team. The hosts’ season is finished. The title is secured. They are out of the two competitions with finals pending. They are also caught up in the departure of Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid, which has deeply divided Scousers. Phrases like ‘betrayal of his boyhood club’ are being bandied about. Welcome to the parallel universe of social media abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slot confirmed that Bradley will start Sunday’s game at right back. It is uncertain whether Alexander-Arnold will be on the bench or even play for Liverpool again, or what kind of reception he will receive if he does. Madrid reportedly want to sign him in time for the summer’s World Club Cup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a former manager of AZ Alkmaar and Feyenoord, Slot will be accustomed to losing his best players each season, but he has said that he won’t tell Liverpool fans what to think about Alexander-Arnold’s departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither side will want to lose this game against an old rival. Three points would bring us to the brink of ensuring we finish no lower than fifth and thus qualify for next season’s CL. My heart hopes for a slice of the spirit of ’89 to deliver a 2-0 win, although my head suggests that the gentlemen of the turf’s favoured 1-1 is more realistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the game, ‘holics, near and far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so to Anfield for Sunday’s late afternoon Premier League game, with the weight of Wednesday’s disappointment hanging heavily. There was a moment this season when it seemed that this fixture could potentially be the league decider, and we would be summoning the spirit of ’89 to carry us to another famous title. As we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11230"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11250,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11230\/revisions\/11250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}