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Ed Aarons<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta has challenged his strikers to score more than 20 goals in a season and backed Viktor Gy\u00f6keres as the Premier League<\/a> leaders prepare to face Liverpool.<\/p>\n The Sweden striker is the club\u2019s joint-top scorer in the league<\/a> with Leandro Trossard on five. No Arsenal player has passed the 20-goal mark in the league since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang managed 22 in the 2019-20 season, Arteta\u2019s first in charge.<\/p>\n Gy\u00f6keres has not scored from open play since the 2-0 win at Burnley<\/a> at the start of November and Arsenal are on course to set a Premier League record if they win the title. Chelsea\u2019s Frank Lampard in 2004-05 and Manchester City\u2019s Ilkay G\u00fcndogan in 2020-21 are tied on 13 as the lowest top scorers in a team crowned champions. Dennis Bergkamp holds that record for Arsenal with 16 in 1997-98.<\/p>\n Arteta was asked whether that was a concern or whether he preferred to spread the goals around the team. \u201cWe want the goals to be spread and our strikers to score over 20 goals,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s a gorgeous January night in north London: driving rain, bone-jarring cold, studied-haircut-busting wind. Football as nature intended.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cArsenal\u2019s bench is insane,\u201d says Jonathan O\u2019Malley. \u201cBy my reckoning the bench alone accounts for three eights of the Spanish midfield.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m nodding like a dog at the first sentence. I haven\u2019t a clue what the second means, though that might be because I\u2019m adjusting to being awake at this hour.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cRob, can I share one of my New Year\u2019s resolutions with you?\u201d writes Charles ANtaki. \u201c I know you\u2019ll keep it under your hat. I\u2019ve resolved to offer myself to Arsenal<\/a> Football Club as their new centre-forward. HR will object that there\u2019s little evidence that I can play football at the elite level (quite true; indeed, at any level whatsoever), and I certainly don\u2019t score enough (in fact any) goals. But on those two criteria I\u2019m more or less par with the current incumbent.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat puts me ahead is maturity, listening skills and a pleasant demeanour. Admittedly those aren\u2019t on the \u2018essential\u2019 side of the job description ledger, but surely they\u2019d be on the \u2018desirable\u2019 list? Anyway: mum\u2019s the word for the moment, until I hear back from the club.\u201d<\/p>\n Has he really been that bad? (That\u2019s a genuine question, not a rebuttal \u2013 you\u2019ve seen more of Arsenal than I have.) Is he the Stephane Guivarc\u2019h des nos jours? Or did the tactics mafiosi eventually conclude that Guivarc\u2019h played an important role, unrecognised by the ignoramii, at France 98?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Arne Slot\u2019s pre-match thoughts<\/p>\n [On the absence of Hugo Ekitike] Missing players is never nice. It makes it even harder when the other option as a No9 is also not available. Pace is an important weapon, especially against a team who have a lot of the ball and defend so far from their own goal.<\/p>\n [On bringing in Jeremie Frimpong] We\u2019ve brought in a bit of pace with Jeremie. He\u2019s been out for four or five months \u2013 not all the time, but mainly \u2013 and I decided to use him as a sub against Fulham so that he would could start tonight.<\/p>\n Both [Wirtz and Gakpo] can play as the No9. It will be fluid.<\/p>\n Arsenal are constantly improving, every year, and they are probably in the best moment of the last 5, 10, 15 years.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Arne Slot has said it hurts his principles as an attacking coach to hear his Liverpool<\/a> team described as boring but he could not entirely disagree on current form.<\/p>\n Liverpool have stabilised after a damaging sequence of nine defeats in 12 matches, the club\u2019s worst return in 71 years<\/a>, with a nine-game unbeaten run but are struggling to produce convincing performances. Successive draws against Fulham<\/a> and Leeds<\/a> have prompted further criticism of Slot\u2019s style and resulted in the champions falling 14 points behind the leaders, Arsenal, who they face at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday.<\/p>\n The Liverpool head coach admits being stung by accusations his team\u2019s approach is dull. \u201cI find it really hard to hear but I would not completely disagree,\u201d said Slot, who could be without Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 for a second successive game. \u201cI would use different words and I would take certain things into account. I want to win as many trophies as I can but I think I am also known for the fact that my teams always try to play attacking football and I can only say they\u2019re trying to do so.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Team news<\/p>\n Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard come into the Arsenal<\/a> side in place of Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli. Those are the only changes from the 3-2 win at Bournemouth.<\/p>\n Liverpool make one change from the draw at Fulham: Jeremie Frimpong comes in for Curtis Jones.<\/p>\n Arsenal (4-3-3) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Odegaard, Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard.<\/p>\n Subs: Arrizabalaga, White, Gabriel Jesus, Eze, Martinelli, Norgaard, Madueke, Merino, Lewis-Skelly.<\/p>\n Liverpool (4-2-3-1) Alisson; Bradley, Konate, van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Frimpong, Szoboszlai, Wirtz; Gakpo.<\/p>\n Subs: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Gomez, Chiesa, Jones, Robertson, Nyoni, Ramsay, Ngumoha.<\/p>\n Referee Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n Good evening. Arsenal\u2019s title wins of the modern era have usually involved a landmark game against Liverpool, and we\u2019re just not talking about Michael Thomas. There was the Thierry Henry-inspired comeback at Highbury in 2003-04<\/a>, the symbolic birth of the Invincibles at Anfield in 2001-02<\/a> plus Paul Merson\u2019s winner on the same ground in 1990-91. Even the 4-0 defeat at Anfield in 1997-98 was a triumph of sorts: the reason Arsenal weren\u2019t at the races was that they had won the title against Everton three days earlier, with all the ABV that entails.<\/p>\n Tonight\u2019s game at the Emirates could be equally memorable for Arsenal<\/a>. A victory over the reigning champions always has symbolic value for the teams hoping to dethrone them, and if Arsenal win tonight they will move eight points clear of Manchester City and Aston Villa at the top. It\u2019s hard to imagine a team as good as Arsenal losing that lead, even with 17 games to go.<\/p>\n Like Shaun Ryder said, it\u2019s a big night in the south.<\/p>\n Kick off 8pm.<\/p>\n![\"Andy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Andy_Hunter.png\")
Andy Hunter<\/p>\n