MatchStats: Virgil van Dijk set for Liverpool captaincy landmark at Arsenal
Virgil van Dijk is in line to captain Liverpool for the 100th time across all competitions against Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.
The No.4 was handed the armband on a full-time basis in July 2023 and will bring up the milestone if selected to face the Gunners at Emirates Stadium in the Premier League.
Read on for more facts and figures about the 4.30pm GMT kick-off in the capital, courtesy of club statistician Ged Rea and Opta…
Liverpool haven’t failed to score in any of their last 17 Premier League meetings with Arsenal since a 0-0 draw in August 2015.
If the Reds win this game, it’ll be their second-best start to a Premier League season after nine matches (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).
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). Their three goals conceded are their joint-fewest after eight games of a league campaign in club 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, while they have kept four clean sheets in their last six visits to Arsenal.
There has been only one goalless draw in the last 50 league encounters between the two teams – which came at the Emirates in 2015.
If the Reds are victorious, Arne Slot will become only the third boss to win his first five Premier League away games, after John Gregory (five with Aston Villa) and Luiz Felipe Scolari (eight with Chelsea).
Ryan Gravenberch could make his 50th appearance for Liverpool in all competitions.
Mohamed Salah’s next goal will see him move into joint-eighth place on the Premier League’s all-time goalscorers list. He will join Robbie Fowler on 163, overtaking Jermain Defoe.
Salah has nine goals in 15 league appearances against the Gunners for Liverpool to date.
Only Roberto Firmino (11) has scored more Premier League goals for the club against Arsenal than Salah, who has the same number as Fowler (nine).
Arsenal are seeking a fifth successive league meeting without defeat against the Reds for the first time since 2011, when in a run of eight games they won two and drew six.
The Gunners have kept 18 clean sheets in 35 games in all competitions so far in 2024.
Mikel Arteta has won five and lost six of his 14 previous encounters with Liverpool as a manager, with three of those victories coming in nine league meetings.
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Liverpool have not conceded a first-half goal in the Premier League this season, while Arsenal have conceded just one.
The Reds have won each of their last 13 games played on this date – a sequence stretching back to 1973.
This article has been automatically translated and, while all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, some errors in translation are possible. Please refer to the original English-language version of the article for the official version.