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2023/24 English Premier League
Matchday 18
Liverpool v Arsenal
Anfield
Liverpool, England
Saturday, 23 December 2023
Kick-off is at 19h30
Liverpool will face a stern test of their title credentials when they lock horns with
Premier League leaders Arsenal at Anfield in the late kick-off on Saturday, December 23.
The Reds climbed to the league summit for the first time this season on matchday 16, only to be knocked off following a 0-0 draw with Manchester United on December 17.
The Gunners reclaimed top spot after they beat Brighton 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium to go one point clear of Jurgen Klopp's side (2nd) and Aston Villa (3rd), who triumphed 2-1 against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Manchester City lost more ground in the title race with a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium, which left them five points adrift of the North Londoners in fourth position.
Mohamed Salah will be hoping to make an impact against Arsenal after struggling to get into the game with United. The Egyptian winger has been in phenomenal form for the Reds this term and his record against the Gunners is good, scoring eight goals in 12 meetings between the two clubs.
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Martin Odegaard will be crucial to Arsenal's hopes of unlocking Liverpool. The Norwegian midfielder is a creative force and was outstanding against the Seagulls, releasing Bukayo Saka with a sumptuous pass in the first half while he had a hand in Kai Havertz's late goal with a neat turn in midfield to get the attack going.
Klopp was pleased with the amount of chances that was created against the Red Devils (34), but felt they should have done much better in those moments after only hitting the target eight times.
"Let me say, besides the result, I have a lot of positives about this game," the German said. "You could say the decisive part, the scoring part, obviously was not there today.
"Maybe one or two were a bit unlucky and in other moments not calm enough, a bit too much in a rush. But the start in the game was the best we had this season, the counter-pressing was the best we had this season, the intensity was outstanding and the amount of finishes is outstanding.
"But when you have this amount of finishes, you should have a few more on target - that's another point which was obviously not great."
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Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has faith in the ability of his players to keep delivering the goods, but admits they needed to many chances to finish off Brighton.
"Yes, but if we generate more, the probability of us scoring is higher," Arteta stressed. "That's the only thing we can focus on. We have great players who can define games and who can finish actions.
"Today we needed too many, especially in big spaces. We needed too many situations to kill the game - and that was the fear, especially after half-time, that it would be one of those days. The moment you give something to this team, they're going to take it."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Liverpool - 3
Arsenal - 1
Draws - 1
Premier League Matchday 18 fixtures:
Thursday, December 21
22h00: Crystal Palace v Brighton & Hove Albion
Friday, December 22
22h00: Aston Villa v Sheffield United
Saturday, December 23
14h30: West Ham United v Manchester United
17h00: Fulham v Burnley
17h00: Luton Town v Newcastle United
17h00: Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth
17h00: Tottenham Hotspur v Everton
19h30: Liverpool v Arsenal
Sunday, December 24
15h00: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Chelsea
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