Liverpool may yet end up challenging for the Premier League title this season. The Reds claimed their first Anfield win of the domestic campaign against Brighton, with Andoni Iraola seeing his team blow Brighton away with a dominant first-half performance. However, they now have a tougher assignment when hosting the champions in this Sunday clash.
The Gunners have won seven of their eight clashes, with the only blot on the copybook being a 3-0 defeat at Brighton. They've only conceded two other goals across their matches and this defensive sturdiness will surely be tested by a vibrant Liverpool attack who have been in free-scoring mode over the past few weeks.
Liverpool v Arsenal Betting Markets
Liverpool might be a value bet at 3.00 to beat Arsenal at home. They were pretty dominant against Brighton last weekend, proving to be good value for their 2-0 win against the Seagulls. Alexander Isak has rediscovered the sort of scoring form that was previously seen in a Newcastle shirt, with the pacy Bradley Barcola starting to repay the hefty transfer fee since his arrival from Paris Saint-Germain.
Granted, that win against Brighton was the first in four attempts at Anfield, although it's been four straight victories across all competitions since being turned over 3-0 by Manchester City. Fourteen goals have been notched across that quartet of fixtures, with Liverpool coming alive in Champions League fixtures against LASK and Villarreal.
In fact, the only defeat of the entire season was that reverse by City and the game was in the balance before Ryan Gravenberch was sent off. Therefore, it's hard to oppose an improving Reds side, even if they are facing an Arsenal team who know how to get the job done.
Mikel Arteta's team are a winning machine. There was a wobble at the AMEX Stadium when losing 3-0 at Brighton, although the Gunners have overcome Aston Villa, Sunderland and Nottingham Forest on the road. All of those victories can be filed under "hard-fought win" and the London outfit will continue to run a tight defensive ship.
Miles Lewis-Skelly operated at left-back in a recent 2-0 win over Everton and perhaps the England man can continue in this position, with Ezri Konsa having slotted seamlessly into the back four alongside Gabriel. However, they have been involved in tight battles on the road this season and it's hard to make too strong an argument for an away victory.
Goals Under/Over
Despite Arsenal's defensively stingy ways, Over 2.5 Goals is trading as the marginal favourite in this two-way market. Perhaps the 2-2 draw in the Champions League at the Allianz Arena indicates that the Gunners sometimes have to meet fire with fire. However, the Gunners have landed 1-0 victory at the City Ground and Villa Park, while they came away from the Stadium Of Light with a 2-0 success.
Last season's Anfield showdown involved a cagey Arsenal approach to the game and eventually it was Liverpool who came through as 1-0 winners. We should also note that the more recent meeting at the Emirates Stadium saw the teams play out a goalless draw. Much depends on whether Andoni Iraola decides to curb his side's attacking enthusiasm but we suspect he won't.
Even so, Arsenal will be aware of Isak's scoring threat and will look to ensure the Swede's supply line is cut off, with the Unders the probable outcome.
BTTS
There's a 60% chance that both Liverpool and Arsenal will score in this game. Before last season, this was a fairly regular occurrence when the two sides met in the Premier League. Two campaigns ago, there were consecutive 2-2 draws and perhaps we can see a return to both teams finding the scoresheet along the way.
Liverpool have drawn two Anfield blanks against Fulham and Manchester City, although their four goals against Villarreal along with two versus Brighton suggest that they will find a way to penetrate the Arsenal defence. The Gunners have only failed to score once across their eight top-flight matches although they are rarely a team who can explode in terms of goal delivery.
The Arsenal victory along with BTTS No has returned a profit in three of their four away encounters. At home, it has won two out of four encounters. They will look to deploy a nullifying strategy although Arteta will be conscious that a timid approach at Anfield last term ended up backfiring thanks to being beaten by a late free-kick.
First Goalscorer
Let's start with Alexander Isak. He's on six Premier League goals and counting, with the Swede determined to make amends for a difficult first season with Liverpool. The former Newcastle man has scored in three consecutive top-flight encounters, with Isak proving to be the focal point of a dangerous Reds attack.
Florian Wirtz was not credited with Liverpool's opening goal against the Seagulls although the German's shot was the one that took a wicked deflection. There was previously a goal against Villarreal and perhaps the former Bayer Leverkusen man can get among the goals here, while Cody Gakpo is back in the side. It might also be worth considering Bradley Barcola after a hat-trick against LASK.
In terms of Arsenal scorers, it's probably worth looking at the defensive players for a value bet. The two centre-backs Ezri Konsa and Gabriel were on the scoresheet during a 2-0 win over Everton, with Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice previously finding the net against Bayern Munich. It's fair to say that the goals are shared around for the champions.
Kai Havertz is generally the preferred option although the German has failed to find the net since early September, while Viktor Gyokeres is still getting short of minutes and his goalless run stretches across the entire campaign.
