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The Spaniard's quirky preparation for last season’s 4-0 defeat was derided but this iteration’s fierce mentality gives the Premier League leaders their best chance to end an 11-year wait for a league win on Merseyside.
Sunday represents Arsenal’s best opportunity to defeat Liverpool at Anfield in a long time, but that was the consensus when Manchester United visited the red half of Merseyside at the start of March.
Erik ten Hag’s troops were on an 11-game unbeaten run when they rocked up at Anfield, looking to end an eight-year wait for a Premier League win at the Reds, but Jurgen Klopp’s troops unleashed a can of whoop-ass on the Manchester giants.
Admittedly, that was a freak result. Liverpool scored from seven of their eight attempts on target as the Red Devils collapsed after the interlude.
While it would be easy to regard United and Arsenal’s pre-match situations as analogous before Mikel Arteta’s team visits Anfield, two reasons suggest otherwise.
For one thing, the Gunners are at a more advanced stage in their development under the Spaniard, who has been in situ since late 2019, while Ten Hag only took the reins last summer.
And there is more emphasis on the team in North London, whereas United’s incredible run was principally an upshot of Marcus Rashford’s goalscoring run and Casemiro singlehandedly elevating a below-par midfield.
Arsenal are a more integrated team than Ten Hag’s men, giving them a higher chance of ending their Anfield hoodoo against a side who have dominated this fixture in the last decade. The aggregate score since Klopp was appointed in 2015 is 25-7, with Arteta twice only taking the Gunners to Merseyside in the league.
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Those games have an aggregate score of 7-1, but one meeting is noteworthy.
Last season, Arteta tried to prepare his young team for the Anfield atmosphere by pumping out ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ through a sound system in training.
But they were beaten 4-0, with the home support’s energy essentially tripling after the Spaniard’s touchline spat with Klopp.
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It was goalless, but Liverpool scored four times through Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah and Takumi Minamino to extend their impressive record over the North Londoners.
Arteta’s first visit to Anfield was a 3-1 defeat that saw Alexander Lacazette open the scoring after an Andrew Robertson mistake inside Anfield without its fans.
That round three encounter was held a month after the Gunners outdid Klopp’s men in the Community Shield, and a cursory look at the away side’s XI on the day shows the magnitude of the club’s rebuild since.
Granit Xhaka, taken off on the hour for Dani Ceballos, is the only player from that lineup guaranteed a spot in the team on Sunday.
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Of the players in the 18-man squad Arteta sent out, only Bukayo Saka — a few weeks after he turned 19 — Gabriel Magalhaes and Eddie Nketiah are keystones of the ongoing title push, albeit with Nketiah serving as Gabriel Jesus’s understudy.
Mane cancelled out Lacazette’s 21st-minute goal by levelling within seven minutes. Robertson atoned for his error four minutes after to put the Reds 2-1 up before Jota’s 88th-minute strike made sure of the three points for Klopp’s troops.
Less than three years later, the shift in mentality at Arsenal has been palpable. Green shoots were evident from the autumn of 2021, and an unforeseen push for Champions League football only fell flat on its face in the closing weeks of the 2021-22 season.
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The acquisitions of Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko have taken the team to the next level, and even more impressive has been the Gunners’ renewed adeptness at coping with adversity and claiming colossal victories at grounds they previously struggled, prompting some observers to crown them champions-elect heading into the season’s denouement.
A 3-1 defeat by Manchester United last September was meant to start the decay, but Arteta’s troops responded with four wins on the trot against Brentford, Tottenham Hotspur, this weekend’s opponents and Leeds United.
Particularly impressive in that run was the 3-0 triumph at the Gtech Community Stadium against a Brentford side that seldom gives much away on their turf, especially against the big clubs — just ask Liverpool — and the team that beat a meek Arsenal on the opening day of the last campaign.
Winning at Stamford Bridge in commanding fashion in November was commendable and is perhaps the North London club’s most dominant showing in West London under Arteta despite only triumphing by a lone goal.
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Claiming a 2-0 success at Spurs in mid-January ended a nine-year wait for an away victory in the North London derby. Arsenal could not win in the latter years at White Hart Lane, had no joy at Wembley Stadium and lost by an aggregate score of 7-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before this year’s triumph.
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19:16 - 15.01.2023
PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal outclass Spurs to turn North London red
Arsenal ended an eight-game winless run away at Tottenham Hotspur, as they cruised to a 2-0 win in the 193rd North London Derby
When a three-game winless run in February showed perceived old frailties, a seven-game winning run followed to quieten the naysayers.
If Arsenal showed why they would not win the league in those two defeats and a draw, the success at Aston Villa demonstrated why this team’s mentality is fiercer than people think, and the dominant 3-0 victory at Fulham proved this team is different gravy.
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17:24 - 18.02.2023
PREMIER LEAGUE ‘That’s why it’s the best league in the World’ - Jorginho on Arsenal’s last gasp win
Jorginho finally won his first match with Arsenal in the 4-2 victory over Aston Villa
Indeed, a first title in 19 years may be in the offing.
“The team is full of enthusiasm and positivity,” said Arteta in the build-up to Sunday. “We know that we have a big challenge, but it is a big opportunity to go to Anfield and do something we haven’t done in many years and that is what is driving the team the last few days.
“We know what we have to do.”
Arsenal have nine finals left to play, and the termination of their Anfield nightmare could be the proof every doubting Thomas needs to validate this current crop’s brilliance. There is no reason to think they are not primed to do just that.
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16:05 - 07.04.2023
Arsenal travel to Anfield to face Liverpool in a potentially action-packed Premier League weekend
Arsenal aim to banish Anfield demons, Frank Lampard gets a fresh start, the relegation battle is tougher than ever and Manchester City fight on.
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