Liverpool vs Arsenal. Premier League.
AnfieldAttendance53,146.
Saturday 4 March 2017 17:32, UK
Liverpool and Arsenal have the chance to turnaround their faltering top-four challenges when they meet at Anfield on Saturday evening.
Leicester took advantage of a sloppy Liverpool performance on Monday, meaning Jurgen Klopp's men have won just one of their last seven league matches taking just six points from a possible 21.
Arsenal, who are one point ahead of Liverpool in fourth but do have a game in hand, will be undertaking their first Premier League game for 21 days after cup commitments.
The Gunners have only lost one of their last nine visits to Anfield.
Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren is set to return.
The centre-back has been sidelined for almost five weeks with a knee injury but has returned to full training.
Striker Daniel Sturridge, having recovered from a virus, is out for at least another week with a hip muscle strain.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson remains absent with a foot injury.
Arsenal welcome back both Aaron Ramsey and Laurent Koscielny.
Ramsey has been missing for the last four games with a calf problem but is now in contention to line up for the Gunners at Anfield as is Koscielny, who missed the FA Cup win over Sutton with a thigh injury suffered in the 5-1 defeat at Bayern Munich. Danny Welbeck is also in contention to feature at Anfield after being left out of the squad for the Sutton match due to concerns about the non-league's side artificial surface.
Santi Cazorla (Achilles) is a long-term absentee while fellow midfielder Mohamed Elneny (ankle) is expected to be out for three weeks.
Liverpool are unbeaten in their last three home Premier League games against Arsenal (W1 D2 L0).
There have been 16 goals scored in those three games at Anfield at an average of 5.3 per game, with the most recent game there ending in 3-3 draw last season.
The Reds have only kept two clean sheets in their last 22 Premier League games against the Gunners and none in their 10 meetings at Anfield since a 1-0 win in February 2006.
Jurgen Klopp is aiming to become the first Liverpool manager since Gerard Houllier in 1999/2000 to do a Premier League home/away double over Arsene Wenger in a single season.
Klopp has exactly the same record as Liverpool manager after 56 Premier League games as Brendan Rodgers (P56 W27 D16 L13 and 97 points).
Olivier Giroud has scored five goals in his last seven Premier League appearances against Liverpool, including three in his last two at Anfield.
The only Arsenal player in Premier League history with more Premier League goals versus Liverpool than Giroud (5) is Thierry Henry (8). Andrey Arshavin has five alongside Giroud.
Should Liverpool win this game then it would be their 50th home league win over Arsenal. As it stands they've only beaten Man City (50), Newcastle (53) and Aston Villa (55) more often in home league games in their history.
Four of the 61 chances that Mesut Ozil has created this season have been assists (6.6 per cent). Last season after 22 appearances, he had created 98 goalscoring chances and 16 of these were converted by the recipient of his pass (16.3 per cent).
Arsenal (13) have won more than double the amount of points from their seven Premier League games in 2017 so far than Liverpool (6).
This fixture has seen 16 goals scored in the 90th minute or later in the Premier League; more than any other fixture in the history of the competition.
I could not believe how bad Liverpool were on Monday. They were terrible. You'd expect them not to be as bad again with Arsenal in town, but I am struggling to predict a winner in this game so that's why I'm going for a 2-2 draw.
There will be plenty of goals because both sides will go gung-ho. Arsenal just need to stay in the game in the first 20 minutes and if they can do that they will have an excellent chance of getting a positive result.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-2 (12/1 with Sky Bet)
Liverpool are Sky Bet's even-money favourites for the victory with Arsenal 5/2 while the draw is priced at 13/5. Jurgen Klopp's men drifted out to 100/1 for the title and even-money for a top-four finish following Monday Night Football's loss at Leicester, while the Gunners are marginally shorter at 10/11 to qualify for the Champions League and 40/1 to land the title.
Roberto Firmino heads the first goalscorer betting at 5/1 followed by Sadio Mane (11/2) and Alexis Sanchez (6/1).
