Venue: Emirates Stadium, London. Time: 20:00 BST. Referee: Martin Atkinson.
Odds: Arsenal to win 19/10, Liverpool to win 13/10, Draw 13/5 (Accurate at time of publishing, Bet365)
Liverpool’s league form against the North London outfit is very good. Unbeaten in 10 league matches, winning 7 of those, and 3 draws, Liverpool are the favourites here. The Reds will hope that their rocky patch is now over with Klopp finally comfortable with his centre-half partnership, allowing Fabinho to play further forward and harden the midfield, which in itself, protects the back line.
There are a few talking points ahead of the match and I feel that it will be these that decide where the three points are heading on the evening of Easter Saturday.
The partnership’s first real test. Ozan Kabak and Nat Phillips look more and more comfortable and dependable with each match. I’m sure that you could launch a big piece of concrete in Nat Phillips’ direction and he’d still try to get his head on it. They haven’t, however, been tested to the level that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will test them though. I really hope that Klopp isn’t tempted to combat this by playing Fabinho at the back to combat this threat as he is so missed from the midfield when he isn’t there. Also, Thiago Alcantara looks a completely different player alongside Fabinho as he’s given more freedom to get on the ball and work his magic. How Kabak and Phillips deal with the threat of Aubameyang will surely give Klopp a good sign of if either should be retained beyond this season, with Kabak’s loan coming to an end (pending an option to buy) and Nat Phillips’ contract due to expire. If they can deal with the threat though, it will show that they’ve got the cojones and that will give Klopp a welcome headache as he decides on his defensive options beyond this season.
The make-up and dynamic of Arsenal’s midfield. Arsenal’s main problem earlier in the season was that they didn’t have enough creativity in their midfield. With the emergence of both Emile Smith-Rowe and Bukayo Saka, in combination with the loan move until the end of the season of Real Madrid’s Norwegian maestro Martin Odegaard, Mikel Atrteta now faces the problem of how to fit them all into his XI. Arsenal look very tasty when Smith-Rowe and Odegaard are both on the pitch, but that means sacrificing some of the steel from their midfield. With Granit Xhaka facing a late fitness test, his decision may be forced anyway. Playing a midfield 4 of Smith-Rowe, Odegaard, Thomas Partey and Dani Ceballos is a combination of both solidarity and creativity, but that selection leaves the team with very little width. It will be intesting to see who Arteta starts with.
Will Arsenal insist on playing from the back? Anyone who saw Arsenal’s 3-3 draw with West Ham United will know what we’re talking about here. If Liverpool’s pressing is on point, I would predict that Liverpool will score at least one goal purely from Arsenal being a bit silly with the ball at the back. David Luiz is looking pretty much certain to miss the game, so it will likely fall to Pablo Mari and Gabriel to partner in defence with Kieran Tierney likely to play left back and either Calum Chambers or Hector Bellerin to play on the right side of the defence. That can be fairly decent back line defending, but none of those (maybe apart from Bellerin) I would say, are excellent on the ball. If Liverpool’s front three all press together and for a little longer than they have in recent weeks, there’s an opportunity of nicking a goal due to a loose ball or passing error.
Prediction: Liverpool 2 Arsenal 1