Liverpool vs Arsenal: Title Race at Anfield

By the time the sun dips over Anfield on Sunday, we will know a lot more about who is serious about this Premier League title – and who is clinging on by the fingertips.

Liverpool host Arsenal six points behind the joint-leaders, Arsenal and Man City, and Paul Merson has put it bluntly in his latest Sky Sports column: if Liverpool truly want a title race, they have to win.

Not draw. Win.

Liverpool’s Narrow Path

Liverpool arrive in good shape on paper. Five wins on the bounce, the crowd back in full voice, and a sense that Andoni Iraola is finally getting a tune out of this side. But the table doesn’t lie. Six points is already a gap. Leave Anfield on Sunday without victory and the arithmetic starts to turn ugly.

Stay six behind and you still have to go to the Emirates. At that point you’re not just chasing; you’re begging. You’re effectively asking Arsenal to lose two games while you remain perfect. And Liverpool will not go unbeaten from here. No one inside the game believes that.

So the equation shifts. If Liverpool drop points now, they are really asking Arsenal to lose three or four matches over the rest of the season. That’s a big ask for a team that has already shown it can control games, manage leads and grind out results.

There’s another layer to it. This isn’t just a must-win for the title. It’s also a must-not-lose for Liverpool in terms of Champions League security. Fall away here, and the conversation around Anfield changes from “Can they catch Arsenal?” to “Can they stay in the top four?”

That’s not the storyline anyone in red wants heading into winter.

Arsenal’s Rare Anfield Chance

Then there’s Arsenal, walking into one of the most intimidating away fixtures in English football with history stacked against them. Their last league win at Anfield came in 2012. Mikel Arteta was in the midfield that day. Now he stands on the touchline trying to end a drought that has spanned a decade of false dawns and heavy defeats.

That record alone shapes the psychology of this game. For Arsenal, it’s a must-not-lose. Take a point and you keep Liverpool at arm’s length and the pressure on City. Lose, and you reopen a door that had started to close.

Win, though? If Arsenal go to Anfield and take three points, the conversation turns sharply. You start to ask: who is going to beat them often enough to drag them back?

Merson is clear on that. He looks at Arsenal’s calendar and sees Sunday as one of only three or four truly daunting fixtures left: City away, Liverpool away, Chelsea away when they catch fire, and then those awkward, dangerous sides like Brighton and Brentford – teams who might hurt you, but who can also bloody the noses of your rivals.

Come through Anfield and suddenly the run-in looks a lot less frightening.

Saka’s Shadow Over a Brutal Run

Arsenal’s November and early December will define their season. It’s a punishing stretch. By December 13, Merson believes we will know whether they are genuine champions-in-waiting or just another side flirting with the idea.

There’s an old saying: after the hard games, come the easy games. Arsenal are right in the middle of the hard ones now.

That’s why Bukayo Saka’s fitness looms so large. If he is injured during this spell, Arsenal lose not just a winger, but a decision-maker. Merson pushes back on the suggestion Saka is out of form. For him, Saka’s value lies in those constant, correct choices in the final third, the calm pass, the right run, the subtle shift of tempo that opens up a defence.

Take that out for six to eight weeks and the balance of the attack changes.

Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze are the names being asked to step into that space. Talented, fearless, full of flair – but there is a world of difference between dropping in for the odd game and being told: “You’re starting every week for the next two months. Deliver.”

That is the real examination. Playing “a couple, then sitting out for a couple,” as Merson notes, is one thing. Carrying the load, game after game, is another. That’s where it can take its toll.

Yet there is opportunity in that pressure. Knowing they will play regularly might free Madueke and Eze. They can relax, open up their game, and show the full range of what they can do. Eze in particular thrives when he is told to express himself, to take risks in the final third.

The looming suspension of Max Dowman only tightens the focus on those creative deputies. Minutes will be there. Responsibility too.

A Season Tilting on One Afternoon

So it all funnels into Sunday. Liverpool, simmering, but forced into a corner where three points feel non-negotiable. Arsenal, scarred by Anfield but emboldened by their position and their form.

Merson’s verdict is ruthless in its simplicity: if Liverpool want a title race, they must beat Arsenal. If Arsenal win at Anfield, the title picture might already start to crystallise.

Anfield has a habit of deciding seasons. Is this the day Liverpool drag themselves back into the fight, or the afternoon Arsenal walk off the pitch and leave everyone else wondering how on earth they’re going to be caught?