Liverpool is the sternest test of Arsenal and Arteta’s newfound form

Here we sit, in another international break, yearning for Arsenal to be involved in the Premier League. However, we must patiently wait until the Gunners’ next game, away to none other than Liverpool. At Anfield, no less.

The clash in previous seasons has resembled something of a training run for Jurgen Klopp’s men with the outlier being the 2-1 win at the Emirates on July 16, 2020. Goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Reiss Nelson secured three points in a game where the hosts only had three shots on goal to Liverpool’s 24.

The last ten meetings in the Premier League have been all Liverpool; that 2-1 victory aside. The Reds has won seven out of the last ten (one loss, two draws), scoring 30 goals and conceding just 13.

Anfield has not been a happy hunting ground for many teams in the league, but especially so for Arsenal as they have tended to fall apart, and quickly, often times in the first half as Liverpool simply made them submit.

Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League presents the sternest test of Arsenal and Mikel Arteta’s newfound form

However, now, Liverpool has shown some vulnerabilities this season and Arsenal has begun to find the right formula under Mikel Arteta. The Gunners are unbeaten in the last ten games in all competitions under the Spaniard, scoring 17 goals, conceding just four, winning eight, and drawing twice.

In reality, Arsenal was expected to beat every side they have played (Leicester City aside) so their unbeaten run likely shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise. But Liverpool is a different beast, especially at home.

We have seen the Gunners under Arteta have a dogged defensive determination when put under the cosh. Games against Burnley and Leicester spring to mind as they were placed under heavy pressure for big spells of those games. That looks set to happen again.

Arsenal is going to have to produce something extraordinary to come away with anything from this clash. That might seem a touch glass half empty, but that is the reality. If Arsenal gives Liverpool the possession they allowed to Leicester and Burnley, the Reds will score as their attacking talent is some of the best in world football.

Aaron Ramsdale, Gabriel, Benjamin White, Nuno Tavares, and Takehiro Tomiyasu have all been superb so far in their Arsenal careers, but they will be judged on how they perform against the big boys in the league, and you will be hard-pressed to find a tougher challenge than playing Liverpool on their home deck. The toughest away trip in Europe, arguably.

While the last two months have seen the mood around the Emirates lift considerably, this is where we see the progress that Arsenal has made under Arteta. A team and its manager are not judged on the performances they produce against teams they are supposed to beat, but rather against the biggest teams in the world – and Liverpool certainly qualifies as such. Even in defeat, it’s the manner of the display that matters.

The improvement in the squad has been there for all to see and that is expected with Arteta now having his full complement of players available, but Liverpool will look to put Arsenal to the sword as they have routinely done in previous years.

Should Arteta and his team travel to Merseyside and put in a proper performance, not necessarily get the three points (which would of course be very nice) but not to get pushed around, get sliced through with ease, and give as good as they get, then that would signify the progress needed from an Arsenal side that has had a notoriously soft underbelly in fixtures of this magnitude.

The last ten games have been fantastic, but the fanbase wants to see what this team is made of, both mentally and physically, as well as what tactics Arteta chooses to deploy. It is essentially a free hit for Arsenal and Arteta – again, glass half empty – but it presents a chance to lay down a marker on the season and to show that the soft and brittle Arsenal of old is now firmly in the rear-view mirror.

While a result would be tremendous, a performance to signal improvement would constitute a big step forward.