Arsenal vs Liverpool Preview

August 28, 2020
By: Daniel Orme

The first match of the English domestic season is set to take place on Saturday as Arsenal and Liverpool come together for the FA Community Shield.

As winners as the FA Cup and Premier League respectively, the two teams clash at Wembley Stadium in the season’s traditional curtain raiser.

Apart from Manchester United, the two most successful sides Community Shield play each other and will be looking to go outright second in the list. The Gunners have lifted the trophy on 15 occasions, the last being in 2017. Meanwhile, Liverpool too have 15 wins but you have to go all the way back to the 2006/07 season for the last time that they were named as winners. This time around, it is somewhat understandable that Klopp’s men are the favourites. The Reds can be backed at 2/5 with William Hill to lift the trophy, whilst Mikel Arteta’s Gunners are available at 7/5.

Whilst it could well be unfair to expect both teams to be at their thrilling best considering this is both side’s first competitive match of the season, there could well be goals in this game. In the last ten matches between the two in all competitions, there has been 52 goals scored. Within that time, there has been 5-5, 5-1, 4-0, 3-3 and 4-3 scorelines. Over 4.5 goals to be scored this time around sits at 19/5 with Paddy Power.

Considering the timing of this match however, there could well be much-changed teams on display from both Klopp and Arteta. Bernd Leno is able to return for the Gunners following his long lay off so that could see Emi Martinez once again drop to the bench. William Saliba is also now eligible to make his Arsenal debut having joined from Saint Etienne. One man who could miss out is Hector Bellerin after he missed the friendly clash with MK Dons – Cedric Soares could start in his place. Of those likely to start the game, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the most likely from a Gunners’ perspective to hit the opening goal of the game at a price of 5/1 with Betfair.

Regarding the Reds, they do have a quite considerable injury list to contend with. Captain Jordan Henderson remains out having missed the latter portion of the 2019/20 season and joins Joel Matip, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Harry Wilson and Divock Origi on the sidelines. Of course, the Premier League champions still have their big guns to call on for the match in the form of Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, who are both available at 7/2 to score the opening goal.

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