Mikel Arteta is yet to mastermind a victory away at a team directly competing with his side for top spot
We haven't left the month of August, the transfer window hasn't even closed yet, and already it feels like every point matters in the Premier League title race. Pre-season favourites Liverpool and Arsenal are two of the only three teams left – the other being Thomas Frank's Tottenham – with a 100 per cent record still in tact.
Manchester City looked pretty vulnerable in last weekend's defeat at home to Spurs, while dark horses Chelsea have also faltered through the opening few weeks. There's a real chance, then, for one of the Reds or the Gunners to pull away with some early momentum.
That's what makes Sunday's showdown so interesting. Arsenal and Liverpool will do battle as Europe's two biggest spenders this summer. The pressure is on both to deliver on the promise of their respective re-toolings, even more so for Mikel Arteta's men, who are still without a major trophy since the first coronavirus lockdown.
Defeat at Anfield would set a pretty bleak tone heading into the season's first international break, but victory for the north Londoners could define their season, even at this early stage.
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Arsenal's big-six record in the recent past is the stuff of envy. No longer are they the whipping boys of the Premier League's elite, rather they have all of their numbers. The Gunners don't have the silverware to show for that record, but it's not the worst thing in the world getting one over your rivals on the pitch again and again.
Indeed, Arsenal's 1-0 win at Manchester United on the opening weekend of the season extended their unbeaten run against the big six to 844 days. Their last defeat came in a 4-1 thrashing away at Manchester City which effectively decided the destination of the 2022-23 title, back during a time where Rob Holding was having to start games. In their subsequent 21 games against their closest foes, Arsenal have won 12 and drawn nine, losing none.
However, Arteta is yet to oversee a victory away at a direct rival for the title in that given season. As mentioned, the Gunners were beaten at City in 2022-23, while the world remembers their infamous reaction to clinging on for a 0-0 draw at the Etihad Stadium one year later. Over the Christmas period of 2023-24, they drew 1-1 at Anfield, and 2024-25 was a similar story, with the 10 men of Arsenal cruelly denied a win at City in the dying seconds of an eventual 2-2 draw, while that same scoreline was repeated at Liverpool when the title had already been decided.
If Arsenal can now go to the home of the champions and win, it would do a lot, even at this stage of the campaign, to quell any doubts about them getting over that last hurdle and finishing in first. Not many believed they could go to Real Madrid in the Champions League and see them off, but they made Santiago Bernabeu their playground. Defeat to an all-conquering Paris Saint-Germain followed, but that's nothing to be ashamed of, and ultimately that experience will serve Arteta's side well, including on Sunday at Anfield.
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That recent record of Arsenal's is only just about alive after surviving an onslaught from United in their meeting earlier this month. Sure, we can classify the Red Devils as a big-six side, but they ultimately finished 15th last season and still managed to drag a team hoping to win the title down to their level.
Most of an Arsenal persuasion will simply be happy that their annual trip to Old Trafford is in the rear-view mirror and they managed to get out of the Theatre of Dreams with the three points. Arteta spun this into a positive in his post-match press conference, insisting he has turned this team into one that is now criticised for winning ugly at intimidating grounds rather than getting pummelled repeatedly. In private and with his coaching staff, he'll no doubt have had concerns over several aspects of a performance that shined a light on their remaining weaknesses.
That said, Liverpool's own return of two wins from two comes with some hefty asterisks as well. They have already let a two-goal lead slip twice and left it as late as possible to mask their blushes. Bournemouth, fresh from another summer of having almost their entire squad pillaged, sliced right through them under the Anfield lights, while 10-man Newcastle ran rings around Arne Slot's side until 16-year-old boy wonder Rio Ngumoha saved the day.
Both Arsenal and Liverpool will come into this meeting believing this a huge opportunity to lay down a marker. These are imperfect teams in spite of the cash they've spent to improve themselves.
AFPCut the race short
Last season's title race was a damp squib from a neutral's perspective. Liverpool went top on November 2 and didn't give that spot up again for the rest of the campaign. By the time winter blossomed into spring, they were regularly posting double-figure points leads over Arsenal and the rest of the chasing pack. Their declining form down the final few months was largely put down to not having to play under significant pressure, and they wrapped up the Premier League with several weeks of 2024-25 remaining.
The warts of these Liverpool, City and Chelsea sides presents Arsenal with an opening, even if they too have issues of their own, not least a hamstring injury to Bukayo Saka and the threat of further such problems later down the line. If they build a head of steam, there might not even be a title race to contend with at all. That was the Gunners' improvised blueprint in 2022-23 when they unexpectedly made the leap into contention, only to fall away and set several unwanted records – including longest time spent atop the Premier League table without finishing in first – in the process.
This Arsenal, however, are different. Back then, one injury meant Holding, someone who hasn't played a single minute of top-flight football since and is now in MLS before he even turns 30, had to come in. Nowadays, Arteta's back-up defensive line consists of Ben White, Cristhian Mosquera, Jakub Kiwior (perhaps soon to be replaced by Piero Hincapie) and Myles Lewis-Skelly. This squad is deep enough to withstand absences, with a lot of noise being made over Noni Madueke and Ethan Nwaneri's capabilities of stepping in for Saka on Sunday.
You can't understate the importance of the scars from that season either, where they were chased down by a City team that would go on to win the treble and their first Champions League. If Arsenal are 10 or so points clear in February 2026, you'd expect them to get the job done this time as a team that has now matured considerably. Stopping Liverpool in their tracks and have them second-guessing over their own summer activity would set the Gunners up nicely in that regard.
GOALBattle of the strikers
There are a number of different narratives on the pitch. The usual one that crops up in meetings between these two is the past vs present, with Saka compared to Mohamed Salah and William Saliba hailed as the Premier League's heir to Virgil van Dijk.
On this occasion, most eyes will be fixated on the two new centre-forwards on display. Arsenal's long search for a No.9 took them to Viktor Gyokeres, with Hugo Ekitike choosing Liverpool as his next destination, all the while Alexander Isak is still trying to force a move to Anfield.
Gyokeres got off the mark with an impressive brace in a 5-0 hammering of Leeds United on Saturday, silencing the critics of 135 minutes of Premier League football to that point. His debut away at United, during which he duelled with the Gunners' alternative target in Benjamin Sesko, came under fire, and the first half against Leeds a week later was similarly disappointing. However, two goals after the break was enough to keep the haters at bay.
As far as strikers go, Gyokeres feels distinctly un-Arsenal. He is not about grace and beauty, more so brawn and brutishness. His scoring record at Sporting CP, 97 goals in 102 matches, jumped off the page, though how he got them and the level he was playing at is still under the microscope. So too is Gyokeres' style, with the hefty Swede possessing a Diego Costa-like quality of bundling his way into chances and finishes. And, let's face it, Costa is far from the Arsenal archetype.
Ekitike, meanwhile, is more what you would expect from a Gunner, silky in his fluidity and devastating when pulling the trigger. Yet he goes into this title race as Liverpool's starting striker (for the time being). Like Gyokeres, the Frenchman has two goals to his name so far this Premier League season, coming up with two exquisite strikes during their victories against Bournemouth and Newcastle. For whatever reason, Ekitike was barely linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium prior to joining the Reds, though that narrative could flip on its head if he outperforms Gyokeres and puts Arsenal to the sword.
