Mikel Arteta will make Arsenal fans truly believe he can win at Anfield. Photo: Reuters/David Klein
Arsenal is a team Liverpool used to be like this.
They are young, fast, energetic, exciting, hungry, dynamic and the long wait for a Premier League title is about to end. league. Everything about them is interesting.
When I look at Arsenal I see a developing team with the core of their strongest XI at the start of what should be a brilliant career. When I look at Liverpool, I see a backbone of players who are past their peak.
But Sunday's meeting, albeit on different trajectories, does not detract from the challenge facing Mikel Arteta at Anfield. Victory, and Arteta's team are favorites in the championship race. Lose and the championship will be in the hands of Manchester City.
These bets make this match the biggest Premier League match Arsenal have played since Arsene Wenger's glory days. If Arteta and his players celebrate victory in full force, most neutrals will agree as the inevitable “now you believe us” chorus begins. They will think that Arsenal can even afford to lose one of their tough remaining games to City or Newcastle United and still go off the line.
Some victories are worth more than three points. Anfield is one of the few stadiums in England that is a true barometer of whether a team has the mentality and skills to become champions. Arteta knows this.
He was ridiculed when the Amazon documentary All or Nothing showed the unique manner in which he tried to prepare his team for Anfield last season by playing the Liverpool anthem over the Tannoy in training.
What was usually overlooked was that his explanation, when he spoke of the Spanish concept of "bajara" — the feeling of paralysis he once experienced during Arsenal's 5-1 loss to Liverpool in February 2014.
“Emotionally, physically, I couldn’t cope. I've only had that feeling once in my career, and that was at Anfield,» he said.
You can't downplay that Anfield factor in judging this game, regardless of the apparent current superiority Arsenal. The complexity of playing in such a compact stadium, when it is at its loudest and most emotional, is recognized by every high-profile visiting player and coach.
As poor as Liverpool may be, winning at Anfield is a statement for title-challenging teams. There are countless stories of champions citing an away victory there as the moment when it looked like the title dream would come true.
When I was an Evertonian as a child, I remember the first time I visited the stadium and saw Graham's volley Sharpe. winning goal. On that day, the belief was born that in 1985 you would become champions.
Arsenal's 2-0 victory in 1989 is the most obvious example of how defining an away triumph at Anfield can be, even though it was a winner-takes-all game. Least remembered outside of north London is how George Graham's team scored another decisive victory at the stadium in March 1991. Paul Merson's winner irrevocably changed the course of the title race, which had previously been dominated by Liverpool.
I played against 10 people Wenger. who beat us in December 2001 — their first Anfield victory in nine years — and regained their titles. It was the first match in an incredible unbeaten streak of 18 wins in the next 21 games to go on to win the title.
Anfield could be where championship dreams die
Sir Alex Ferguson and my Sky colleague Gary Neville openly admit that they saw the visits to Anfield as a real test of their ability to win the championship. Manchester United famously lost the league on Merseyside in an attempt to end the long wait for the title in 1992, but made amends over the next two decades. United's 3-1 victory in April 1997, when both clubs were still in contention for the title, deserves special attention.
Jose Mourinho's 1-0 success at Anfield in 2005 at The road to his first title at Chelsea prompted him to hail the victory that «champions must have at decisive moments».
For others, Anfield was the moment when dreams died. Newcastle United players believe that the famous 4-3 defeat in 1996 was the night they lost the Premier League.
Kevin Keegan plummeted as the famed Liverpool beat Newcastle 4-3, the wind broke in their title sails. 1996 Klopp can only dream of Sack and Martinelli
Arsenal's Sunday result will lead to many references to this positive and negative experience, but they will arrive at Merseyside with more confidence than since their last league win at Anfield » in 2012.
Until Tuesday's 0-0 draw with Chelsea, I predicted that Liverpool would beat Arteta's team solely because of home form. If this game hadn't been at Anfield, I wouldn't be so sure that Liverpool have a chance.
Jurgen Klopp had little reason to be jealous of other teams during his tenure at Liverpool. He does now. He should want half of Arteta's team to be in his starting lineup. Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli brought the lightning pace and penetration that Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane brought to Klopp's 4-3-3 system five years ago. Not too long ago, Klopp must have been investigating whether the Arsenal duo could have been lured to Merseyside. Suffice it to say that the ship really sailed.
I won't be wise after this event, arguing that the first glimpse of what Arsenal could be was not in their 3-2 win over Liverpool at the Emirates in October. In March 2022, Klopp's team beat Arsenal 2-0 after a productive second half, but they lost in the first 45 minutes. Then Liverpool still had the opportunity to recover. They have since been left behind.
The team Klopp is trying to rebuild in the last 10 games of this season is not all that different from what Arteta inherited in 2019, full of aging players with big contracts. which need to be facilitated so that promising youth and the next signings can shine.
The difference is that Arteta was willing to be more pragmatic based on the tools he had when he came to power. What worries me about this game is how firmly Klopp believes that the team should play the same high pressure, no matter how good the opponent or his staff can realize it.
Liverpool's last two games against Manchester City and Chelsea were prime examples of such risky football. The sight of a low-energy team trying to press high and play head-to-head all over the field while the pace was a yard behind was unsettling. When players don't have the necessary qualities to play the way the coach wants, it doesn't do them or the coach any good to persist in the same bad idea.
Despite the lack of overlap in the maturation of their title-contesting teams, Klopp and Arteta approached the establishment of their club in a similar fashion, supported by patient boards of directors who silenced outside noise and stuck to their long-term vision. Until this season, Liverpool have been a role model for Arsenal, especially when Arteta was forced to move faster. Arsenal are now Klopp's role model as he embarks on the next phase of his Liverpool rebuild.
There is no doubt that Klopp will react to Arsenal's current dominance over Liverpool ahead of next season,» Manchester United». and Chelsea will challenge. This makes it more important for Arsenal to knock out Liverpool while they are losing and deliver a record worthy of the champions.
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