Football writer Ben Bloom sets the stage for Liverpool v Arsenal at Anfield, weighing up form, injuries and records.
Just three weeks into the Premier League campaign, an epic awaits. As managers are eager to point out, a title cannot be won or lost in August. But a big result can have major repercussions for what is to follow.
Arsenal and Liverpool are the only two clubs with maximum points in the top flight so far this campaign after Tottenham Hotspur lost to AFC Bournemouth on Saturday. They are also the two sides who battled for glory last season. So the prospect of the pair slugging it out at Anfield today is one to savour.
Can Arsenal prove they have what it takes to shed their perennial bridesmaid tag and win a first Premier League title for more than 20 years? Or will Liverpool’s superiority – especially at home – continue?
Summer of intent
It is a rarity for the runaway Premier League champions to top the spending bill in the summer immediately following glory, but that is precisely what Liverpool have done (and they are reportedly looking to spend more before the transfer deadline on Monday evening).
Having barely troubled the Anfield coffers upon his arrival last year, Arne Slot has overseen wholesale changes in this transfer window, with the Reds reportedly spending close to £300million on Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong and Giovanni Leoni. Georgian goalkeeper Georgi Mamardashvili has also arrived, after a season on loan at Valencia, the club he was bought from last summer.
Arsenal have been equally as busy, challenging Chelsea (depending on reported transfer fees) as the league’s second-biggest spenders.
Mikel Arteta moved early to bring in Kepa Arrizabalaga, Martin Zubimendi, Christian Norgaard, Noni Madueke, Cristhian Mosquera and Viktor Gyokeres, before topping their expenditure with the capture of Eberechi Eze last week.
Form guide
The visitors could not arrive at Anfield in more abundant confidence after battling past old foes Manchester United in their opener and then brushing aside Leeds United; six goals scored, none conceded.
Liverpool share the same record of two wins from two, but have been nowhere near as dominant, requiring late goals to edge past both AFC Bournemouth and Newcastle United.
Slot’s side have been far from their best, but have managed to avoid dropping any points. The mark of champions again?
Arsenal's injury issues
Speaking at the end of the 2024/25 campaign about the multiple injuries his team had weathered, Arteta suggested "any other club in this position will finish in a position you cannot even dream of".
According to the Premier Injuries website, Arsenal suffered 36 different injuries to players last season, losing a total of 1,297 days to them, which ranked them behind only Brighton & Hove Albion, Spurs and Ipswich Town for days lost.
Two games in and there is a sense of deja vu, with the attacking trio of Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus all expected to miss the trip to Anfield and Martin Odegaard a doubt.
However, after Saka and Odegaard both picked up injuries during last weekend’s 5-0 win over Leeds, Arteta insisted "we are much more equipped without a doubt" to cope with their absences.
The addition of Gyokeres, Madueke and Eze should mean that the loss of such key starters is not felt as acutely as last season.
Having started Crystal Palace’s first Premier League game against Chelsea, there should be no fitness issues with Eze being thrown in straight away at Anfield.
Paying tribute to his former player, Palace manager Oliver Glasner suggested Eze is the man for the big occasion.
"Ebs, in the crunch time, when we needed him, he was here, and this is what I will always remember," he said.
"This is what great players are doing – when you need them, they are here. Great players never hide in important situations – you can count on them."
A club debut away to Arsenal's title rivals would be the ideal occasion for the new boy to make an impression.
A tale of two defences
Two games into the season, Liverpool, with seven goals, and Arsenal, with six, lead the scoring charts. There is little to separate the sides at the attacking end of the pitch. But it is an entirely different story at the other end.
Arsenal are the only team yet to concede this campaign, which is no surprise given their frugality when topping the charts for fewest goals conceded in each of the last two seasons.
The core defensive trio of goalkeeper David Raya and centre-backs Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba are indomitable, while a number of full-backs have been used interchangeably alongside them (also providing useful goals).
Conversely, aside from the league’s bottom two of West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers (both eight goals against) and Leeds (five), Liverpool have let in more Premier League goals than any other team this season.
From looking so calm when winning the title last season, they have appeared alarmingly vulnerable so far and were indebted to Virgil van Dijk’s brilliance for marshalling them over the line against 10-man Newcastle on Monday night.
Kerkez has shown his vulnerabilities at left-back, while Frimpong’s injury – and a lack of fitness for his alternatives – meant Dominik Szoboszlai unexpectedly played at right-back in the last game.
While Arsenal’s defence has looked unbreakable, Liverpool’s has been worryingly porous.
Anfield factor
What happens when an immovable force meets an unstoppable object? Well, if those two things are Liverpool and Arsenal, and the stage is Anfield, the answer tends to be stalemate – three successive league fixtures between these two teams there have ended in draws.
Over the past couple of seasons, Arsenal’s problems have not been against their fellow "Big Six" sides of Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Spurs. Indeed, Arteta’s side have not lost to another "Big Six" club in the Premier League since 2022/23.
Yet Liverpool’s record at Anfield is daunting. Not since September 2012 — when Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla scored, and Arteta played — have Arsenal returned victorious there. That period spans 15 matches across all competitions.
Liverpool’s last home league defeat against a "Big Six" team came against Chelsea in March 2021. Under Slot, the hosts have lost only once to any club – Nottingham Forest in Matchweek 4 last season – in 20 Premier League matches at Anfield.
Arteta revealed earlier this year that his players often train to music in a bid to influence the mood of his camp. One wonders what inspirational playlist he has procured ahead of the Anfield trip.
Watch the last time Arsenal won at Anfield
The kids are alright
No sooner had one wonderkid made his presence felt in the world’s biggest league than another swiftly followed. In Max Dowman and Rio Ngumoha, the two sides meeting at Anfield today appear to have two gems on their hands.
Aged 15 years and 235 days, Dowman became the second-youngest ever Premier League debutant when he came off the bench for Arsenal against Leeds last Saturday, earning comparisons to Lionel Messi with his eye-catching performance.
Having impressed in pre-season, Dowman won a penalty for his side with the type of showing that few inside Arsenal were surprised with, given his exploits playing above his age in various youth ranks. "This is what we see every single day in training," said Arteta.
Under safeguarding regulations, Dowman’s age means he changes in a separate room to his team-mates before entering the main dressing room for team talks.
Just two days later, Ngumoha became the Premier League’s fourth-youngest goalscorer, aged 16 years and 361 days, when he fired in the winner against Newcastle.
Like Dowman, Ngumoha had shone during pre-season. Liverpool got him from Chelsea, where he had spent his entire academy career from the age of eight, in the summer of 2024.
"He is not afraid to play," said Slot after Ngumoha’s goal against Newcastle. "It’s a great finish."
Whether either will be involved at Anfield remains to be seen, but the future for Dowman and Ngumoha looks bright regardless.
What comes next
There is little sense of either side easing their way into the season, with a number of tricky fixtures to come in the opening months as they look to launch title bids.
Arsenal, perhaps, have it toughest with games against Forest, Man City and Newcastle immediately following the upcoming international break, while they will also have to manage the league phase of the UEFA Champions League.
Liverpool have matches they will be expected to win in September against Burnley and Palace, but in between they face city rivals Everton at Anfield. In October, they travel to Chelsea before hosting Man Utd.
Both Liverpool and Arsenal will be desperate to set a positive tone today.