In England, the first 'Premier' league weekend is ongoing, featuring the first round matches. On Sunday, there will be two more matches, one of which will see the teams of "Arsenal" and "Liverpool" face each other. Eurofootball.com presents the preview of this match.
"Arsenal" - "Liverpool"
Match time and venue:
On August 14th at 18:00, at the "Emirates" Stadium. The match will be broadcasted live on the Viasat Sport Baltic channel.
Team news:
In the "Arsenal" team, three defenders - Per Mertesacker, Gabriel, and Carl Jenkinson are recovering from injuries, and the gaps in defense may be tried to be filled by the team's newcomer, Rob Holding. The team also has injured Danny Welbeck, and the French players who played in the European Championship final - Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud, are still not fully ready for the season, so their chances of appearing on the field are minimal.
In the "Liverpool" team, Daniel Sturridge and James Milner are recovering from minor injuries, and their participation in Sunday's match is still possible. Three major summer transfers - Sadio Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum, and Joel Matip, should make their debut for the team. However, the injured goalkeeper Loris Karius and defender Mamadou Sakho will certainly not appear on the field to help their team.
Coaches' pre-season comments:
Arsene Wenger ("Arsenal"): "I think nowadays it's much harder to convince people that you can get good players for a reasonable price and most believe that the quality of a new purchase depends on the transfer fee. In most cases this is true - good players cost a lot of money, but you can still find quality players for a reasonable price. This is not financial competition, football is played on the field."
Jürgen Klopp ("Liverpool"): "The only way to success is stability. All those big leaps down and up really don't help. This offseason we tried to be as independent as possible in how the other team plays. If they defend deep, we can't change that - we can't say, 'oh, this is boring, give us some space.' If they play on counterattacks, if they apply high pressure, no matter how they play, you always have to have a solution for that. This is the main thing we work on."
Interesting facts about this match:
In the last 10 meetings between these teams, "Arsenal" suffered only one defeat (5 wins, 4 draws);
In the last 20 visits to London for matches against "Arsenal", "Liverpool" only returned with a win once - in August 2011 (8 draws, 11 losses);
In the history of matches between these teams, the most hat-tricks in all "Premier" league matches were recorded - 5;
In matches between "Liverpool" and "Arsenal" in the "Premier" league, spectators also saw the most goals in the 90th minute or added time. In total, in the last moments of these matches, these teams scored 16 times - 9 for "Liverpool", 7 for "Arsenal";
In the last three times when playing the first-season matches at home, "Arsenal" celebrated a victory only once;
In the 2015-2016 season, "Arsenal" ended the year with a 10-match unbeaten streak (5 wins, 5 draws);
Last season, "Arsenal" finished second in the "Premier" league for the first time since 2005;
Last year, "Arsenal" become the first team in the "Premier" league since 2003-2004 to lead the league at the end of January and ultimately stay without the title;
In the last four league matches against "Liverpool", Olivier Giroud scored four goals;
In the past seven seasons, "Liverpool" remained outside of the top five in the league;
Under the guidance of Jürgen Klopp, the "reds" averaged 1.6 points per game, which was the seventh result in the league. Before the arrival of the German, "Liverpool" averaged 1.5 points per game in the season;
In 2016, "Liverpool" is the most scoring team in the "Premier" league, and during these calendar years, they scored 41 goals;
Roberto Firmino directly contributed to 13 goals in 15 "Premier" league matches in 2016. In January, against "Arsenal," he scored two goals.
