Iraola: "We know Arsenal, we know how good they are, very good players, working a lot, working in synchrony, knowing each other very well and we have to be ready for that challenge. I think it’s going to be demanding, the game, but I also trust our players, trust ourselves and in a good atmosphere that for sure we will have on Sunday, I hope we can be at the level to win this game."

TEAM NEWS

After missing our midweek match, Mikel Arteta confirmed that Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori have both trained before our trip to Anfield. 

The boss confirmed that Christos Tzolis, who has been out of action in October, has also been in training before the match. He also did not rule Noni Madueke out of Sunday's action after he sat out the Fleetwood trip.

As for Liverpool, Iraola confirmed Dominik Szoboszlai and Victor Munoz have a chance of making the match having both picked up injuries in their 2-1 win over Brentford earlier this month. Iraola did confirm that Jeramie Frimpong will miss the match with a hamstring injury and is expected to return after the international break. Hugo Ekitike, Geovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley are long-term absentees.

TALKING TACTICS

Adrian Clarke:  “Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool are starting to click, and from a tactical perspective they resemble Jurgen Klopp’s Reds a lot more than the side built by Arne Slot. This essentially means they are not as possession-focused – against Manchester City and Brighton they had around 36% of the ball for example – preferring to attack at speed from transitions, than controlling the tempo. No team has created more ‘direct attacks’ than our opponents this Sunday.

“This style of play makes sense when you have so much rapidity in attack. Out wide, Bradley Barcola and Cody Gakpo offer great speed and directness, while Alexander Isak is another attacker who does not lack pace inside the opposition half. Liverpool top the standings for the most sprints per match.

“Isak is in great form heading into this encounter, scoring in three successive Premier League games for the first time in a Liverpool shirt. His 30% conversion rate is impressive, with Gakpo assisting him for three of the six he’s netted. This combination play needs to be curtailed by us at Anfield.

“Iraola uses a 4-2-3-1 shape with Florian Wirtz in behind Isak. The German playmaker only has two direct goal involvements this term, but covers a lot of ground and makes plenty of chances. Only one top-flight player has produced more key passes than Wirtz, who made nine chances against Brentford, and the No.10 is also the only individual to cover more than 13km in a single match this season.

“Physically, we could hold a big advantage. Over the course of the campaign so far Mikel Arteta’s super-fit side has run further than anyone else, with Liverpool ranked the lowest in that department. If we play at a high tempo and test them athletically, it could provide a telling edge.”

MATCH STATS

We have lost one of our last eight Premier League games against Liverpool, a 1-0 defeat at Anfield in 2025/26.

We are winless in our last 13 away Premier League games against Liverpool (D5 L8) since we won 2-0 in 2012/13. We’ve never gone 14 winless away at Anfield in tour league history, also going 13 between 1975/76 and 1987/88, a run which was broken by their famous 2-0 final day victory in 1988/89 which secured the title.

Between January 2016 and May 2025, Liverpool and Arsenal scored at least two goals in all 19 Premier League meetings (78 total, 4.1 per game). Last season, only one was scored over the two games, with Liverpool the only side to stop the Gunners from scoring in 2025/26.

No side has more Premier League clean sheets since the start of September than Liverpool (four in six games), with that tally of four only one fewer than they managed in their first 22 games in 2026 (five).

We have won 299 Premier League away games and would be just the second team to reach 300 in the competition after Manchester United (328). However, our win rate at Anfield is 18%, the lowest of any stadium we've been to more than 10 times.

We have the joint-most clean sheets in the Premier League in 2026/27 (five), have faced the fewest shots on target (24), the lowest xG (6.2), and allowed the fewest big chances (11). 

In 2026, we’ve kept a clean sheet in 56% of our league matches (15/27), their third-best tally in one year, behind 1998 (61%, 23/38) and 1903 (59%, 19/32).

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola has lost just two of his 27 Premier League games in 2026 (W12 D13), one of which was at home to us in January as Bournemouth boss. It’s the lowest defeat percentage (7%) by a manager in a year (min. 20 games) since Jürgen Klopp lost one of his 37 games in 2019 (3%).

Arsenal midfielders Declan Rice (93) and Martin Ødegaard (89) have made more line-breaking passes in the final third than any other players in the Premier League this season.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Andy Madley will be refereeing our trip to the northwest on Sunday. Madley has taken charge of eight of our matches during his time as a referee, the last being our 2-0 victory over Everton in March 2026. 

Nick Hopton and Tim Wood are his assistants, with Tom Bramall as fourth official. Stuart Atwell is on VAR duty at Stockley Park, where he'll be assisted by James Bell.

Referee: Andy Madley

Assistants: Nick Hopton, Tim Wood

Fourth official: Tom Bramall

VAR: Stuart Atwell

Assistant VAR: James Bell

ANFIELD MEMORIES

Anfield wins have been few and far between in recent years. Excluding our penalty shootout success in the Carabao Cup in 2020, it's been 14 years since we triumphed at the famous stadium, a 2-0 success against Brendan Rodgers' side.

However, we have drawn three of our last four visits to Liverpool, including fighting back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 thanks to goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino in May 2025.

Our first ever Premier League victory came on this ground. A 2-0 success over the Reds thanks to goals from Anders Limpar and Ian Wright ended a run of two defeats to kick off the Premier League era.

Our most famous triumph at Anfield, of course, came in 1989. Requiring a two-goal victory at a ground we'd not won at in previous 13 occasions, second half goals from Alan Smith and Michael Thomas clinched the First Division title in the most dramatic of fashions.

LIVE COVERAGE

The Arsenal app and our website will have live commentary of our trip to Anfield, with Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke calling our Merseyside matchup. Tune in from 4.25pm for all the details!