{"id":9000,"date":"2023-12-22T15:00:27","date_gmt":"2023-12-22T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=9000"},"modified":"2023-12-24T10:51:52","modified_gmt":"2023-12-24T10:51:52","slug":"the-battle-for-the-christmas-number-one-awaits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=9000","title":{"rendered":"The Battle for the Christmas Number One Awaits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the biggest game of the Premier League season, so far, awaits Liverpool and Arsenal on Saturday night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

City\u2019s recent poor form has allowed these two sides to form a smallish gap along with surprise package Aston Villa who will likely be top when these two kick off at Anfield as they host Sheffield United at home tonight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liverpool\u2019s record at Anfield over the last six or seven years speaks for itself. Their last league defeat in front of the Kop was well over a year ago now and until last weekend\u2019s drab goalless draw with United they had a 100% record in front of their own fans this season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal\u2019s most recent league win there came way back in August 2012 when Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla grabbed their first goals for the club in a 2-0 win. Since then, we\u2019ve taken a few batterings up there. A pair of 5-1 drubbings and a 4-0 pasting the year before last, to name a few. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last season\u2019s fixture was something of a foreshadowing of the horror to come as we travelled there on Easter Sunday on the back of seven straight wins, with a sizeable gap to Man City at the summit, with only eight games to go. We went 2-0 up inside half an hour and it seemed as though the good times would never end. But a late equaliser from Roberto Firmino knocked the stuffing out of our season and we went on to limp over the finish line in second place, 5 points off City. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will the demons of Anfield haunt us again? Only time will tell. Liverpool have enjoyed a vast improvement from last season\u2019s surprising fifth place finish as they sit one point off the top, level on points with Villa and four above the champions. However, they are still some way off the imperious levels of their title winning seasons and the sides that have pushed City so close in recent years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This won\u2019t be easy. It promises to be the game of the season so far, a real humdinger just before Christmas. In fact, it will be the first of three encounters with Liverpool in our next seven games with an FA Cup tie at the Emirates in January sandwiched between the two league encounters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have, like so many others, struggled against Liverpool in recent years although we did take four points off them last year. In my previous previews for this fixture, I have looked at famous encounters between the two of which there have been plenty. This is the highest scoring fixture in premier league history, hardly surprising considering the attacking talent both sides have had throughout the years. There was the famous 4-4 game in 2009 when Arshavin remarkably grabbed all four goals; he remains the last visiting player to score four at Anfield to this day. There was a notable 3-3 draw around this time in 2017 when Arsenal went 2-0 down early in the second half before a remarkable five-minute spell where we scored three times only to eventually draw 3-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And of course, there was the famous Michael Thomas game but unfortunately football wasn\u2019t invented until three years later by Sky and the Premier League, so that doesn\u2019t count. In terms of the team selection, I wouldn\u2019t be at all surprised if we are unchanged from the win over Brighton in what was arguably our best performance of the season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One consideration could be taking Zinchenko out for Kiwior but I do expect the Ukrainian to keep his place. No doubt Tomiyasu would have started had he been fit but Zinchenko will have to be switched on to the max to keep Salah quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It a game where Rice will probably have to put more of a focus on his defensive duties, so we probably won\u2019t see as much of his lung busting runs as usual. Another tweak Arteta could make is Jorginho for Havertz if he wants a more pragmatic approach but, given the excellent form Havertz is in, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s likely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Liverpool, Joel Matip is out for the season with an ACL injury so Konate will start next to Van Dijk. I believe that Andy Robertson is still out with a dislocated shoulder, so Kostas Tsimikas will likely keep his place, although Joe Gomez is also an option for Klopp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liverpool have undergone a midfield revamp over the summer so Arteta will be kept guessing as to what Klopp goes with in the middle of the park. Wutaro Endo will probably anchor the midfield in the \u201c6\u201d role and I am predicting Curtis Jones to start following his brace in the week alongside Dominik Szoboszlai, and yes, I did have to Google the spelling of the latter\u2019s surname! MacAllister is carrying an injury so he may well be left Home Alone for Christmas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In attack, we know Salah will obviously play. I would be surprised if Luis Diaz doesn\u2019t start on the left. Up front it will likely be the hit and mostly miss, Darwin Nunez. You would fancy Gabriel\u2019s and Saliba\u2019s chances against the Uruguayan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is shaping up to be a Christmas cracker of a game and a win for either side would go a long way to defining either side\u2019s title chances. City don\u2019t play this weekend due to their participation in the ludicrous Club World Cup where they will play Copa Libertadores champions, Fluminense in the final. A win for Arsenal would open a seven-point gap between us and the champions which is always welcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I am plumping for a draw which I don\u2019t think would be a bad result at all even if it knocks us off our perch at the top. 1-1 according to my sources. The Anfield atmosphere must always be taken into consideration along with their imperious home record. A win would be a huge statement regarding our title ambitions especially given we have already broken the city curse this season, along with the Goodison Park curse earlier in the campaign. There\u2019s no Southampton to stop us this year either! One more broken curse won\u2019t hurt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy travels to all Gooners heading up there on a night where it will be very difficult to find any return trains to London. Hopefully any travel woes will be softened by the massive three points we\u2019ll be taking home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

COYG!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perhaps the biggest game of the Premier League season, so far, awaits Liverpool and Arsenal on Saturday night.  City\u2019s recent poor form has allowed these two sides to form a smallish gap along with surprise package Aston Villa who will likely be top when these two kick off at Anfield as they host Sheffield United […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"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\/9000"}],"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\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9000"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9003,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9000\/revisions\/9003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}