Preview: Arsenal vs Liverpool - prediction, team news, lineups

The faltering champions meet the in-form challengers on Thursday evening, as Arsenal welcome Liverpool to the Emirates Stadium for a Premier League blockbuster.

The Reds come into the heavyweight clash on a longer unbeaten run than the Gunners, but victory will take Mikel Arteta's men a whopping 17 points clear of the holders with 17 games remaining.

Match preview

A Happy New Year in the most literal sense for Arsenal, Arteta's league leaders flourished where their closest challengers floundered in gameweek 20, despite a disastrous start against Bournemouth which saw Gabriel Magalhaes's howler punished by Evanilson.

The Brazilian's redemption strike and Declan Rice's brace - his first in the Premier League after 296 games - propelled the Gunners to a critical 3-2 comeback win over the Cherries, before both the red and blue halves of London celebrated Enzo Fernandez's late equaliser for Chelsea against Manchester City.

Back-to-back draws for the Sky Blues leave both them and Aston Villa six points adrift of Arsenal, although the deficit will be reduced to three points with victory for either team on Wednesday night, when City face Brighton & Hove Albion and Villa tackle Crystal Palace.

However, as they have done for most of the season, Arsenal have focused on their own matters with maximum effectiveness and are now on a seven-match winning run across all tournaments, including each of their last five in the Premier League.

The Gunners may have only triumphed in two matches by more than one goal in that time, but grinding out results when not playing at 100% is often a sign of champions; it is still too early to call the crown the Gunners' to lose, though.

Nevertheless, Arteta's men are firm favourites to get the better of Liverpool at a ground where they have won a sensational 14 of their 15 matches this season - including each of the last 12 in a row - and a new slice of history could be written for the men in red and white.

Having overcome Manchester City at the Emirates in 2023-24 and 2024-25, Arsenal could beat the reigning champions in three straight home games for the first time in the Premier League era, having not achieved that feat since the early 1960s.

Some Liverpool supporters may already be resigning their side to the same fate as Pep Guardiola's men, as the positivity from a four-match triumphant streak has been replaced by the pessimism of back-to-back draws with Leeds United (0-0) and Fulham (2-2).

The four-goal thriller against the latter saw Harrison Reed bring the Cottagers level deep into injury time with an outrageous long-range strike, barely moments after Cody Gakpo had appeared to steal all three points for a lackadaisical Liverpool, who at least maintained their grip on fourth spot in the table.

Arne Slot's side are also just one game away from going 10 unbeaten, but maintaining their ongoing streak without defeat would have come as little consolation to disgruntled fans, who may now feel that the visitors' previous winning run just papered over cracks.

Liverpool did down Arsenal 1-0 at Anfield in August thanks to a spectacular Dominik Szoboszlai free kick, but they have failed to win any of their last three matches at the Emirates and could see their increasingly wafer-thin title hopes extinguished entirely on Thursday - if they had not been already.

Arsenal Premier League form:

Arsenal form (all competitions):

Liverpool Premier League form:

Liverpool form (all competitions):

Team News

Now blessed with the best kind of selection problems again, Arteta may only be missing three players for the visit of Liverpool; Max Dowman and Cristhian Mosquera are definitely out with ankle problems, and Riccardo Calafiori is also missing with his "very awkward" unspecified injury.

Kai Havertz was omitted from the squad to face Bournemouth for load management reasons, and given the strength in depth of Arsenal's attacking contingent, it would not be a total surprise to see the recently-recovered German spared once more.

After Gabriel Martinelli and Noni Madueke got the nod out wide at the Vitality Stadium, Leandro Trossard and history-chasing Bukayo Saka are now primed to return; the latter is aiming to become the first Arsenal player ever to score in four straight league home games vs. Liverpool.

Liverpool are nowhere near as fortunate on the attacking front, as Mohamed Salah (AFCON) and Alexander Isak (leg) are definitely out, and Slot admitted on Wednesday that Hugo Ekitike was yet to train with the team after missing the Fulham draw due to muscular issues.

Florian Wirtz - scorer of Liverpool's first against Fulham - is also not operating at full fitness as he manages a hamstring problem, but there is no suggestion that the £116m man will miss the clash with the leaders.

Giovanni Leoni (ACL) and Wataru Endo (ankle) will play no part in Thursday's game, though, and Slot may very well stick with the same XI from Craven Cottage, although Jeremie Frimpong is an alternative in either the right-back or right-wing slots.

Arsenal possible starting lineup:

Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Odegaard, Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard

Liverpool possible starting lineup:

Alisson; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Jones; Gakpo

We say: Arsenal 2-0 Liverpool

No side has beaten Arsenal more times in the Premier League than Liverpool, who have got the better of their hosts on 26 occasions, but all the signs are pointing towards a glorious Gunners evening on Thursday.

Liverpool are short on both attackers and morale, while Arsenal continue to find new ways to win and also have the Emirates factor on their side, so Arteta's men should break the 50-point barrier and streak further clear of the soon-to-be deposed champions.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.