MatchThe opposition lowdown: Arsenal

Recent form

Arsenal enter the game following a midweek Champions League victory over Shakhtar Donetsk.

In the Premier League, the Gunners were beaten last week by AFC Bournemouth, their first defeat of the campaign.

After eight matches in the top flight, Mikel Arteta's team have recorded five victories, two draws and that single loss. They sat third in the table ahead of this weekend's round of fixtures.

Ones to watch

Kai Havertz has netted four goals in the Premier League this season so far, the most for Arsenal.

Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Magalhaes, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli have all found the back of the net on two occasions.

Saka has also been a key playmaker for the hosts this term, registering seven assists in the league to date – two more than any other player in the division.

Team news

Saka, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber are facing late fitness tests to check their availability for the 4.30pm GMT kick-off.

William Saliba is definitely ruled out through suspension, while there was no update on the condition of Martin Odegaard, Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu during Arteta's pre-match press conference on Friday.

What they said

Arsenal head coach Arteta

"We're all excited about it, it's a big opportunity. We love these kind of matches at the Emirates. We know what our people are going to generate and the team is really looking forward to it.

"We're always going to be ourselves in the identity that we have, in the game that we want to play, in how we're going to approach the game to win it. It's certainly not going to change.

"Then, obviously, you adapt and you make certain alterations to feed the quality of the players and put the players in their biggest strength, which is what we want to do."

Previous meetings

Liverpool were beaten 3-1 in this very fixture last season, having gone to the Gunners' home a month earlier and won 2-0 in the Emirates FA Cup.

The Anfield affair in December 2023 ended 1-1 when a fine Mohamed Salah goal cancelled out the early opener from Gabriel.

The teams also met in pre-season this past summer, with Arne Slot's side claiming a 2-1 win in Philadelphia.

Pre-match stats

There has been only one goalless draw in the last 50 league encounters between the two teams – which came at Emirates Stadium in 2015.

If the Reds win this game, it'll be their second-best start to a Premier League season after nine games (24 points – currently on 21). The only other occasion in which they've won 24 or more points at that stage of a Premier League campaign was in 2019-20, when they last won the title (25 – won eight, drawn one).

Liverpool have conceded fewer goals than any other team in the Premier League this season (three), while they also have the lowest xG against total (6.2). The three goals conceded is the joint-fewest after eight games of a league campaign in the club's history (also three in 1978-79 and 2018-19).

Of the last 24 meetings home and away in all competitions Liverpool have lost just five, and they have kept four clean sheets in their last six visits to Arsenal.