{"id":40885,"date":"2026-01-08T20:20:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T20:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=40885"},"modified":"2026-01-08T20:20:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T20:20:45","slug":"arsenal-v-liverpool-premier-league-live-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=40885","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal v Liverpool: Premier League \u2013 live | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

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20 min <\/strong>\u201cWhat if someone said, \u2018henceforth there will be no more end ofs. End of\u2019?\u201d wonders Joshua Keeling. \u201cThen you couldn\u2019t use it anymore\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Interesting proposition. Tell you what, how about we just switch the internet off for the next five years and let society do a reset?<\/p>\n

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17 min <\/strong>On Sky Sports, Peter Drury asks Gary Neville how he would play against Bukayo Saka. \u201cVery difficult,\u201d says Neville.<\/p>\n

In other news, here\u2019s a video from a popular dopamine factory called YouTube.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Updated at\u00a015.19 EST<\/p>\n

16 min <\/strong>Timber\u2019s dangerous header back across goal is crucially cleared by the off-balance Van Dijk. Moments later, Saka produces some magic in a phonebox to beat Mac Allister, and get to the byline in the area. He stabs the ball back but it\u2019s slightly behind Zubimendi at the near post and Liverpool clear.<\/p>\n

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15 min <\/strong>The stats say Arsenal have had 55 per cent possession but it feels closer to 70.<\/p>\n

Stats and feels, forever in opposition.<\/p>\n

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Updated at\u00a015.15 EST<\/p>\n

14 min <\/strong>\u201cI\u2019m not an Arsenal fan, I\u2019ll get that in early,\u201d says Joshua Keeling. \u201cI just want to say I don\u2019t really get the Gyokeres debate. He\u2019s class. End of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imagine how much better life would be if the phrase \u2018end of\u2019 was taken literally. Every time somebody uses it, that\u2019s it \u2013 the subject is off limits forever more. No more discussion, no more arguments, no more volanic takes, no more end ofs.<\/p>\n

I feel calmer just thinking about it.<\/p>\n

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12 min <\/strong>Liverpool break from an Arsenal corner until Wirtz is pulled back by Trossard. He\u2019s booked.<\/p>\n

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10 min <\/strong>A peripheral-vision header down from Gyokeres finds Trossard in space, 22 yards out. He mishits a shot into the ground and Konate heads clear.<\/p>\n

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10 min <\/strong>Liverpool\u2019s plan is to use the pace of Gakpo and Frimpong in wide positions. But so far they haven\u2019t been able to do that at all, with Arsenal pinning them back for the majority of the first 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

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8 min <\/strong>\u201cRegarding the weather,\u201d begins Ian Copestake, \u201cthe southerners and their northern guests will be enduring, I do hope future winter strips include a onesie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Masculinity RIP. Some players are even wearing gloves<\/em> tonight.<\/p>\n

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7 min <\/strong>Nothing to report. Arsenal are making the running but so far Liverpool have kept them at arm\u2019s length.<\/p>\n

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5 min <\/strong>\u201cThe weird thing about the non-centre-forward fear tonight is that the curious case of the non-centre-forward is how Liverpool won the league,\u201d writes Paul Griffin. \u201cDarwin Nunez just wasn\u2019t very good, so Luis Diaz played there a lot, doing a lot of Sun Ra difficult jazz movement and very little trad jazz knock-it-up-to-the big-man-business at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe solution to this title-winning non problem was to buy two centre forwards, one of whom admittedly does quite a lot of Eric Dolphy weird jazz. I\u2019m not sure the club does needed to drop \u00a3200m to fix the aforementioned non problem, especially when they could have paid me \u00a3100,000 a week not to be a centre forward. In fact my agent says I\u2019ll do it for \u00a312. And some Bisto.\u201d<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s Paul Griffin up front at one end and Charles Antaki at the other. And is that Gary Naylor I can see patrolling the centre of midfield like a marginally less attractive Pirlo?<\/p>\n

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4 min <\/strong>It\u2019s a truly disgusting night at the Emirates, John Cusack weather. On Sky Sports, Gary Neville suggests a combination of the wind and rain may preclude a free-flowing contest.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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3 min <\/strong>\u201cGive the Liverpool warm-up top a break,\u201d says Justin Kavanagh. \u201cWhen your team is so dull that even their own coach can\u2019t defend their adrenaline-draining football, you need a bit of colour somewhere in the mix. Remember the great \u20181-0 to the Arsenal\u2019 team\u2019s bruised banana kit back in the early 90s? Dog\u2019s vomit, maybe, comes closest to a marketing description.\u201d<\/p>\n

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2 min <\/strong>Liverpool have started with Gakpo on the left and Wirtz and Szoboszlai as a pair of false nines in a 4-2-4-0 formation. That\u2019s the system that worked so well when they won at the Etihad last season, with Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones as the false nines.<\/p>\n

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Updated at\u00a015.03 EST<\/p>\n

1 min <\/strong>Liverpool kick off from right to left as we watch. Arsenal have waited 22 years to win their 14th league title; a win today would bring it tantalisingly close.<\/p>\n

<\/span>It\u2019s a packed house at the Emirates.<\/span> Photograph: Alex Burstow\/Arsenal FC\/Getty ImagesShare<\/p>\n

Updated at\u00a015.09 EST<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad to see Zubimendi is playing tonight,\u201d<\/strong> writes Peadar de B\u00farca. \u201cI got an earful from a Spanish friend who was visiting over Christmas for not pronouncing the \u2018Z\u2019 in Zaragoza as \u2018Th\u2019. Everytime I introduced her to my friends and told them where she came from, she shot me daggers, much like I used to when my mother would proclaim, \u2018I don\u2019t like that Alec Ferguson fella…\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cFunny thing is, she\u2019s a big Coronation Street fan and Roy Barraclough, the scheming landlord from the Rovers Return was always \u2018Alex Gilroy\u2019 to her. Ay up cock and happy new year!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Liverpool warmup top,\u201d<\/strong> begins Peter Oh, \u201clooks like the result of opening up a tub of raspberry yoghurt that\u2019s been sitting out too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flip that\u2019s just reminded me of something. Be back in fridge minutes.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Cody Gakpo x raspberry yoghurt.<\/span> Photograph: Justin Setterfield\/Getty ImagesShare<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta\u2019s pre-match thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Have last night\u2019s results made this an even bigger game?] We can only focus on what we have to do. Let me ask you a question, Patrick: have you read about Harry Brook? What a shocker. The night before a game!<\/p>\n

Creating an amazing atmosphere and energy is really helpful. The margins are always small in these games so anything we can add is really important.<\/p>\n

Liverpool are very dangerous. The line-up gives you a clear idea of what they want to do; it\u2019s very different to what they did aginast Fulham. We have to make sure we know what to do.<\/p>\n

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\u201cArsenal have been annoyingly composed and consistent over the winter holidays<\/strong> and into the new year,\u201d writes Peter Oh, \u201cbut I\u2019m an optimist and haven\u2019t given up hope of an imminent \u2018Oh Arsenal!\u2019 extended dip in form.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreferably starting today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does this email constitute nominative fatalism?<\/p>\n

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Three-eights of the Spanish midfield<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jonathan O\u2019Malley has written in again to explain the comment that whooshed straight over my big bald head.<\/p>\n

Commentating on the Brugge v Arsenal game, Ma<\/strong>rtin Keown reckoned that Arsenal were benefitting from having three quarters of the Spanish midfield with Merino and Zubimendi, which immediately impressed on me the importance of ruthless precision and accidental comedy for those hoping to make it at the business end of the #punditry game.<\/p>\n

Niche, but somehow I thought you\u2019d appreciate it. If you\u2019re explaining, etc.<\/p>\n

ShareEd Aarons<\/span><\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta has challenged his strikers to score more than 20 goals in a season<\/strong> and backed Viktor Gy\u00f6keres as the Premier League leaders prepare to face Liverpool.<\/p>\n

The Sweden striker is the club\u2019s joint-top scorer in the league with Leandro Trossard on five. No Arsenal player has passed the 20-goal mark in the league since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang managed 22 in the 2019-20 season, Arteta\u2019s first in charge.<\/p>\n

Gy\u00f6keres has not scored from open play since the 2-0 win at Burnley at the start of November and Arsenal are on course to set a Premier League record if they win the title. Chelsea\u2019s Frank Lampard in 2004-05 and Manchester City\u2019s Ilkay G\u00fcndogan in 2020-21 are tied on 13 as the lowest top scorers in a team crowned champions. Dennis Bergkamp holds that record for Arsenal with 16 in 1997-98.<\/p>\n

Arteta was asked whether that was a concern or whether he preferred to spread the goals around the team. \u201cWe want the goals to be spread and our strikers to score over 20 goals,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a gorgeous January night in north London<\/strong>: driving rain, bone-jarring cold, studied-haircut-busting wind. Football as nature intended.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Fans brave the rain outside the Emirates.<\/span> Photograph: John Walton\/PAShare<\/p>\n

Updated at\u00a015.05 EST<\/p>\n

\u201cArsenal\u2019s bench is <\/strong>insane<\/strong><\/em>,\u201d<\/strong> says Jonathan O\u2019Malley. \u201cBy my reckoning the bench alone accounts for three eights of the Spanish midfield.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m nodding like a dog at the first sentence. I haven\u2019t a clue what the second means, though that might be because I\u2019m adjusting to being awake at this hour.<\/p>\n

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\u201cRob, can I share one of my New Year\u2019s resolutions with you?\u201d<\/strong> writes Charles ANtaki. \u201c I know you\u2019ll keep it under your hat. I\u2019ve resolved to offer myself to Arsenal Football Club as their new centre-forward. HR will object that there\u2019s little evidence that I can play football at the elite level (quite true; indeed, at any level whatsoever), and I certainly don\u2019t score enough (in fact any) goals. But on those two criteria I\u2019m more or less par with the current incumbent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat puts me ahead is maturity, listening skills and a pleasant demeanour. Admittedly those aren\u2019t on the \u2018essential\u2019 side of the job description ledger, but surely they\u2019d be on the \u2018desirable\u2019 list? Anyway: mum\u2019s the word for the moment, until I hear back from the club.\u201d<\/p>\n

Has he really been that bad? (That\u2019s a genuine question, not a rebuttal \u2013 you\u2019ve seen more of Arsenal than I have.) Is he the Stephane Guivarc\u2019h des nos jours? Or did the tactics mafiosi eventually conclude that Guivarc\u2019h played an important role, unrecognised by the ignoramii, at France 98?<\/p>\n

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Arne Slot\u2019s pre-match thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n

[On the absence of Hugo Ekitike] Missing players is never nice. It makes it even harder when the other option as a No9 is also not available. Pace is an important weapon, especially against a team who have a lot of the ball and defend so far from their own goal.<\/p>\n

[On bringing in Jeremie Frimpong] We\u2019ve brought in a bit of pace with Jeremie. He\u2019s been out for four or five months \u2013 not all the time, but mainly \u2013 and I decided to use him as a sub against Fulham so that he would could start tonight.<\/p>\n

Both [Wirtz and Gakpo] can play as the No9. It will be fluid.<\/p>\n

Arsenal are constantly improving, every year, and they are probably in the best moment of the last 5, 10, 15 years.<\/p>\n

ShareAndy Hunter<\/span><\/p>\n

Arne Slot has said it hurts his principles as an attacking coach to hear his Liverpool team described as boring<\/strong> but he could not entirely disagree on current form.<\/p>\n

Liverpool have stabilised after a damaging sequence of nine defeats in 12 matches, the club\u2019s worst return in 71 years, with a nine-game unbeaten run but are struggling to produce convincing performances. Successive draws against Fulham and Leeds have prompted further criticism of Slot\u2019s style and resulted in the champions falling 14 points behind the leaders, Arsenal, who they face at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Liverpool head coach admits being stung by accusations his team\u2019s approach is dull. \u201cI find it really hard to hear but I would not completely disagree,\u201d said Slot, who could be without Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 for a second successive game. \u201cI would use different words and I would take certain things into account. I want to win as many trophies as I can but I think I am also known for the fact that my teams always try to play attacking football and I can only say they\u2019re trying to do so.<\/p>\n

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Team news<\/h2>\n

Bukayo Saka<\/strong> and Leandro Trossard<\/strong> come into the Arsenal side in place of Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli. Those are the only changes from the 3-2 win at Bournemouth.<\/p>\n

Liverpool make one change from the draw at Fulham: Jeremie Frimpong<\/strong> comes in for Curtis Jones.<\/p>\n

Arsenal (4-3-3)<\/strong> Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Odegaard, Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard.<\/p>\n

Subs: Arrizabalaga, White, Gabriel Jesus, Eze, Martinelli, Norgaard, Madueke, Merino, Lewis-Skelly.<\/p>\n

Liverpool (4-2-3-1)<\/strong> Alisson; Bradley, Konate, van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Frimpong, Szoboszlai, Wirtz; Gakpo.<\/p>\n

Subs: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Gomez, Chiesa, Jones, Robertson, Nyoni, Ramsay, Ngumoha.<\/p>\n

Referee<\/strong> Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).<\/p>\n

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Preamble<\/h2>\n

Good evening. Arsenal\u2019s title wins of the modern era have usually involved a landmark game against Liverpool, and we\u2019re just not talking about Michael Thomas. There was the Thierry Henry-inspired comeback at Highbury in 2003-04, the symbolic birth of the Invincibles at Anfield in 2001-02 plus Paul Merson\u2019s winner on the same ground in 1990-91. Even the 4-0 defeat at Anfield in 1997-98 was a triumph of sorts: the reason Arsenal weren\u2019t at the races was that they had won the title against Everton three days earlier, with all the ABV that entails.<\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s game at the Emirates could be equally memorable for Arsenal. A victory over the reigning champions always has symbolic value for the teams hoping to dethrone them, and if Arsenal win tonight they will move eight points clear of Manchester City and Aston Villa at the top. It\u2019s hard to imagine a team as good as Arsenal losing that lead, even with 17 games to go.<\/p>\n

Like Shaun Ryder said, it\u2019s a big night in the south.<\/p>\n

Kick off <\/strong>8pm.<\/p>\n

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Updated at\u00a014.29 EST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature 20 min \u201cWhat if someone said, \u2018henceforth there will be no more end ofs. End of\u2019?\u201d wonders Joshua Keeling. \u201cThen you couldn\u2019t use it anymore\u2026\u201d Interesting proposition. Tell you what, how about we just switch the internet off for the next<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[3366,3504,132,2069,1706],"class_list":{"0":"post-40885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-arsenal","9":"tag-league","10":"tag-live","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-premier"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}