Arsenal’s trip to Anfield on Saturday will provide the fan base with plenty of context as to how far the club has progressed since the 5-0 loss to Manchester City at the end of August.
Since then, Arsenal have been on a ten-game unbeaten run with crucial wins over sides such as Tottenham, Aston Villa and away at Leicester City. The Gunners will however face an entirely new level of opposition waiting to bring them back down to earth.
With the crazy scenario that could see Arsenal rise above Liverpool in the table with a win, getting something from Merseyside will be a priority to Mikel Arteta.
Having lost five of their last six available points, Liverpool could be considered vulnerable, yet their quality should never be underestimated. Although, the international break may have opened the door to exploitation.
During Scotland’s 2-0 win over Denmark Andrew Robertson was taken off with a suspected hamstring injury. This likely means that Kostas Tsimikas will replace the full-back in the team for Saturday’s game.
The 25-year-old will not be coming in cold playing in both Greece’s World Cup qualifier matches against Spain and Kosovo.
The Liverpool man was however unable to help keep a clean sheet in either game. His defensive abilities, comparatively weaker than Robertson’s, will come into question.
Bukayo Saka is expected to start on the right-wing and face the Greek international. The trickery of the England international will hope to be enough to help the Gunners break through the Liverpool defence.
For Arsenal to come away with anything from the match they will need to score. Liverpool may have been dropping points, but their team has continued to score regularly.
In the previous two games, their opposition had to score at least twice to prevent a Liverpool victory and only Chelsea have stopped Jurgen Klopp’s side from netting more than once this season.
Whilst Emile Smith-Rowe has begun to add more goals to his game, Saka remains influential in the build-up as opposed to goal contributions.
This could be the test where Saka steps up to match his England international teammate in order for Arsenal themselves to level up and compete again with a side of Liverpool’s stature.
The game is set to answer plenty of questions but for Saka in particular the match will provide a barometer for the 20-year-old’s development.
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