An injury-hit Arsenal welcome Liverpool to the Emirates on Sunday afternoon for a huge Premier League showdown. 

The Gunners have four major doubts for the game while William Saliba is suspended, which leaves Mikel Arteta in a tough spot.

Arteta has multiple dilemmas ahead of a difficult meeting at the EmiratesGetty

And it has come at just the wrong time for Arteta’s side, as they head into this game off the back of their first league defeat of the season against Bournemouth. 

A Champions League win against Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek will help lift morale, but it wasn’t a convincing victory and now they have a much tougher opponent. 

The Reds are sitting pretty at the summit of the top-flight, winning seven of their opening eight league games under boss Arne Slot. 

In all competitions, it’s 11 wins in 12 games, which proves that Slot’s men are going to be a force to be reckoned with this season. 

Arsenal vs Liverpool: Suspended Saliba

As mentioned, Arsenal are going to be without Saliba this weekend. 

It will be the first time they have started a Premier League game without their star centre-back since the beginning of last season. 

The Frenchman had previously played every single minute of the Gunner’s top-flight matches over the last two campaigns. 

But that streak ended against Bournemouth and now he’s out of this clash too.

Since making his debut in the competition (on August 5, 2022), he’s missed just 11 Premier League matches.  

Arsenal have a 74 per cent win rate and concede an average of 0.8 goals per game with him, compared to a 45 per cent win rate and 1.6 goals conceded per game average without.

Saliba is going to be a major loss for ArsenalGetty

Arsenal are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games against Liverpool (W2 D2), taking more points from these four games (8) than they had in their previous 14 against the Reds (7 – W1 D4 L9).

Liverpool haven’t failed to score in any of their last 17 Premier League meetings with Arsenal since a 0-0 draw in August 2015.

Arsenal have won their last two Premier League home games against Liverpool, last having a longer such run between 2004 and 2006 (4).

Arsenal vs Liverpool: Team news

Arsenal could be missing five key players for this huge clash.

Captain Martin Odegaard will miss out as he continues his recovery from an ankle injury while Bukayo Saka is a major doubt too.

Saka was absent in midweek against Shakhtar while Jurrien Timber also missed out and Riccardo Calafiori picked up a knee problem during the game. 

On top of that, Saliba is suspended after his red card against Bournemouth, meaning Arteta has a lot of potential changes to make to his team. 

As for Liverpool, goalkeeper Alisson is out of action until November. 

However, his replacement Caoimhin Kelleher has impressed as a back-up and the Reds will be confident with him between the sticks.

Diogo Jota is a doubt after not travelling to Leipzig in midweek due to a bruised rib which he picked up against Chelsea last weekend. 

Federico Chiesa, Harvey Elliott and Conor Bradley are all going to be absent. 

Slot’s Liverpool are in fine form and they sit top of the leagueGetty

Declan Rice could make his 250th Premier League appearance in this game. The Arsenal midfielder would be the sixth-youngest player to hit that milestone (25 years, 287 days) and youngest since current teammate Raheem Sterling in March 2020 (25 years, 91 days).

Kai Havertz has scored in each of his last five Premier League appearances at the Emirates Stadium. The only Arsenal player to score in more successive home appearances in the competition is Thierry Henry, who has done so twice (6 from March-August 2000 & 7 from May-October 2004)

Arsenal vs Liverpool: What has been said?

Despite being ruled out of this game, Odegaard’s return isn’t too far away. 

And Norway manager Stale Solbakken has given Arsenal a huge boost as he discussed the upcoming international break. 

Solbakken is confident that he will be calling Odegaard up for the next break, which begins on November 11. 

That indicates that the Gunners skipper is only a couple of weeks away from a comeback. 

“Everything indicates that things are going according to plan,” the Norway boss told VG.

“So it’s about the last steps when you have to train with opponents and in team training.

“It depends on how he responds to that, but we have a legitimate hope that he is ready.”

Odegaard looks set to be returning to action next monthGetty

If Liverpool win this game, it’ll be their second-best ever start to a Premier League season after nine games (24 points – currently on 21). Indeed, the only other occasion in which they’ve won 24 or more points at that stage of a Premier League campaign was in 2019-20, when they last won the title (25 – W8 D1).

After losing to Bournemouth last time out (0-2), Arsenal face the prospect of losing back-to-back games in the Premier League for the first time since 31st December 2023 (0-2 v West Ham and 1-2 Fulham). Prior to their trip to Bournemouth, the Gunners had only lost one of their first 25 league games in 2024 (W21 D3).

Arsenal vs Liverpool: How to follow

This Premier League clash will take place on Sunday, October 27. 

Kick-off at the Emirates is scheduled for 4:30pm. 

The game will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League. 

talkSPORT will also keep you updated with all the latest on the Sunday Session with Sam Matterface. 

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream. 

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.