Arsenal - Liverpool is obviously the main event on this week. Arsenal are in a pretty solid condition in the league now. It was important for them to win against Tottenham and they did it by a solid effort. Maybe the red card was a help also but Tottenham were already not as effective as Arsenal before that too. Arsenal play really different in Emirates. I mean they are more capable of controlling the match without looking at the opponent.
Liverpool are still having defensive issues. Even van Dijk isn't reliable recently. I wonder if Klopp will be able to find a way out. The win over Rangers would be a boost in their morale but I still can't trust them much here. If they can't get better at defending in this one then Arsenal can win this. Besides both teams should be able to find at least one goal easily.
Arsenal is at the top of the table with 7 wins and at the same time, Liverpool is not doing so well. Liverpool only has two wins in 8 matches. That is certainly not ideal for them. Liverpool was supposed to be the team that was going to challenge Manchester City for the English Premier League title.
But right now that does not appear to be the case. And on the other hand, Arsenal is playing really well. It feels like Arsenal is actually shaping up to be the one that may actually give Manchester City a true fight for the title. But it is still too early to say anything because we know how Arsenal can suck in a short period of time. Last season, Arsenal was supposed to be in the top four, but they lost the number four spot in the last match to Tottenham.
I know it is still extremely early in the season, but this game is more important than anyone would think at first glance because it is "only" game day number 8 or 9, respectively. If Liverpool loses this one and Arsenal wins (logically) along with Manchester City, that would make it 13 points in difference between Liverpool and Manchester City. I can't see a realistic scenario where Manchester City loses 5 games during the whole season whereas Liverpool wins every single game until the end of the season. Being behind 13 points against City is almost game over.
I know I sound drastic, but wouldn't you guys agree? Does anyone really expect City to literally fall apart for a couple of weeks while Liverpool doesn't?