Mikel Arteta has challenged his Arsenal side to end another hoodoo and win at Anfield for the first time in 11 years.
The Gunners head to face Liverpool on Saturday knowing victory would leave them top of the Premier League table on Christmas Day.
But the visitors would have to end a run of results stretching back to September 2012 if they are to achieve that – winning 2-0 when Arteta was in the Arsenal midfield.
The Spaniard toasted four years as Arsenal manager earlier in the week and during that time he has overseen wins at Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham, while this season they beat Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium.
Next up, for Arteta, is to leave Anfield with three points: “We have done it at Old Trafford, we have done it at Stamford Bridge and many other places where we haven’t done it for years,” he said.
“This is the next challenge. Go there and win. If you want to be at the top you have to go to those places and be dominant. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”
Arsenal led 2-0 at Anfield last year before they were pinned back and had to settle for a draw.
Ahead of that trip, Arteta had called Anfield a “jungle”, while in the Amazon ‘All or Nothing’ documentary he was shown piping in ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ while his players trained – although that led to a 4-0 thrashing to Jurgen Klopp’s side.
“It’s going to be a great atmosphere,” added Arteta.
“The two teams are in a really good moment, really good position, really strong position. They are going to be well placed to win it and to go for it. It’s going to be an intense match.
“You have to play better than them. You will silence the crowd if you are dominant and better than them.
“There are certain things that we didn’t manage very well (last season), the way we allowed them to run especially, that we need to correct and be much better at because when they have that momentum and space they are a really dangerous team, but we had some the big, big situations in after those moments when we could have killed the game and we didn’t – when you have the opportunity to do that, you have to do it.
“They have experienced that for many years now. For this group of players now this is the third, fourth time that they have been there (Anfield).
“A few years ago, it was the first time for most of them and maybe you have to clarify and explain certain things. I don’t think that is necessary now.”
