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Football London
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Tom Coley

How Arsenal can beat Liverpool with 3 undroppables as Mikel Arteta makes Man City tactical change

Mikel Arteta's Arsenal go to Anfield as favourites to win, perhaps for the first time since the manager himself was on the winning team there in 2012. Since then the Gunners have failed to claim all three points in a league match at the ground.

It has been a stadium that has held little but bad memories for fans. From fighting valiantly to half-time before crumbling to 4-0 to conceding 32 goals in eight games there. The results from the past decade don't read well.

As well as the 4-0 loss there have been three 3-1 losses, a 5-1 hammering and another 4-0 for good measure. There is a chance on Sunday to put that in the past though. A win would be one of the biggest in the Arteta era, mirroring and enhancing the statement made with the victory over Jurgen Klopp's team earlier this season at the Emirates Stadium.

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Arsenal can make it eight league wins in a row should they taste victory on the red half of Merseyside, it would ensure that the Premier League title remains in their hands and reduces, ever so slightly, the importance of travelling to the Etihad Stadium at the end of the month.

Liverpool will be up for it themselves though with this game posing as the last chance for them to keep up with the top four race having fallen 10 points off Manchester United. Klopp has tried all the tricks in the book to get his side back to form this season but little has changed.

The roles have well and truly reversed for these two teams and here's how Arsenal can get the better of the Reds at Anfield.

Overload the midfield

Chelsea changed their system to ensure they dominated the centre of the park against Liverpool in midweek, playing with midfielders with their wingbacks as well offering numerous options in possession. As for Klopp's men, they were run ragged and the ageing duo of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson were unable to assert themselves on the game at all.

Arsenal already build up with the 3-2 defence-midfield shape, inverting to create additional chances to keep possession. The two teams will be lining up on paper with a 4-3-3 system though and could see the midfield become the key area to unlocking the match.

With Gabriel Jesus able to drop into creative spaces to pick up the ball, ensuring that ball control is utilised efficiently will be a major way to stamp authority on the game.

Patience in play

Manchester City, a close comparison for Arsenal in more ways than one, found themselves 1-0 down to Liverpool last week but didn't panic. They were a Jack Grealish tackle away from being 2-0 down.

Pep Guardiola's side could only level it by the break but went on to produce one of their best performances of the season, ripping the Reds apart. Central to that was the role of John Stones. The English defender occupied an unorthodox defensive midfield role for large parts of the game.

Even when he was marked out of receiving possession Stones stuck to his guns and tried to take up effective spaces behind Liverpool's press. When it worked, and it did more and more as the game went on, Stones was able to dictate play and run the show. If Oleksandr Zinchenko can offer similar options, not being drawn into frustration when marked out of play, then the Gunners will have a key way to get running at their opponents.

Width is key

Once more it is Guardiola and City that have already given the perfect template to Arteta ahead of this game.

The title chasers were able to exploit the areas behind Liverpool's fullbacks effectively, pushing them back with a high and wide position before then coming inside, offering a passing option and spinning into attack.

The speed of the passes inside to the midfield No8s allowed Grealish and Riyad Mahrez great joy one-on-one against Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold. With Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard both suitable to fulfilling similar roles it is a method that has already been proven to work.

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