Liverpool vs Arsenal preview

September 1, 2012
By: Frank Beresford

Just a week after the impressive showing against Manchester City and a missed opportunity to beat the Premier League champions, Liverpool will have another chance to prove they have what it takes to mix it up with the best of them in England’s top flight.

This time the Reds will be looking for a victory against Arsenal, a team are not only searching for their first win of the campaign, but also looking to register their first goal.

While the expectations were high following the arrival of Brendan Rodgers to Anfield, the Anfield outfit were quickly grounded as they recorded a 3-0 defeat to West Brom in the season opener.

The Reds, nonetheless, proved that was just a one off result by completely outplaying reigning champions Manchester City at Anfield, but two cheap mistakes prevented them from taking all three points.

The match against hungry Arsenal is hardly a perfect opportunity to record the first league win of the season, but taking into account the promising showing from the City game, odds of 2.15 (23/20) offered at Paddy Power on home win could be worth a shot.

With Andy Carroll loaned to West Ham, Rodgers and his men will be heavily relying on Luis Suarez to produce the much needed goals, so you should know the Uruguayan is 2.45 (29/20) with Bodog to score at any time.

Jonjo Shelvey should continue to deputize for Lucas Leiva, who is out with a thigh injury, while it remains to be seen whether youngster Raheem Sterling can keep his place in the side.

Brendan Rodgers will be delighted to have Daniel Agger back from a one-match ban following the calamitous performances from Pepe Reina and Martin Skrtel.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Reina – Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique – Shelvey, Allen – Borini, Gerrard, Sterling – Suarez.

For the umpteenth time, we are hearing all sorts of comments about Arsenal’s dealings in the summer transfer window, and the two opening draws have done nothing to ease the pressure on Arsene Wenger.

Nobody can guarantee that Robin van Persie would have scored in the two opening rounds had he stayed at the Emirates, but after failing to find the net in the first two games, the new forwards are always going to be criticized.

In all fairness, Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud have shown a lot of promise at the start of their careers in England, but there has been a clear lack of understanding in Arsenal attack.

The odds are that the Gunners will finally break their scoring duck, Ladbrokes has them at 3.00 (2/1) not to score at Anfield.

Laurent Koscielny is back after recovering from injury, while Wojciech Szczesny faces a fitness test. Bacary Sagna and Jack Wilshire remain long-term worries.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Szczesny – Jenkinson, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs – Cazorla, Arteta, Diaby – Walcott, Giroud, Podolski.

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