Champions and challengers collide in Sunday's solitary Premier League offering, which pits in-form Liverpool against a wounded Arsenal at Anfield.

The Reds have won five straight games in all tournaments ahead of the visit of the Gunners, who have arguably never been under more pressure to respond to a disastrous result during the Mikel Arteta era.

Match preview

Whispers of a top-flight title challenge are now audible on the red half of Merseyside, after Andoni Iraola's men passed a stern test of their title credentials last weekend, besting a Brighton & Hove Albion team boasting the meanest attack in the division.

Liverpool's 2-0 victory over the Seagulls came in spite of Iraola's charges enjoying just 36% of the ball - their second-lowest figure on record in a Premier League home win - sparking accusations from opposite number Fabian Hurzeler that only one team tried to win in the second half.

However, the team that won have now moved to within one point of the team that 'tried to win', as Liverpool's third top-flight victory from four games lifted them up to fourth in the Premier League table, just below Brighton and six adrift of Arsenal and Manchester City.

The Reds' first Premier League home win of the season came either side of two more Anfield successes, the chaotic Champions League triumph over Villarreal and Wednesday's EFL Cup elimination of Chelsea via spot kicks, enhancing Iraola's reputation as a man who rarely loses.

Indeed, the Reds manager has only suffered two defeats in 27 Premier League games in 2026 - albeit while drawing 13 of those contests - although one of those reverses came against none other than Arsenal in January while in charge of Bournemouth.

Arsenal might have experienced a joyful away day the last time they travelled to Iraola territory, but Mikel Arteta's Premier League champions venture to Anfield after becoming the victims of the giant killing of all EFL Cup giant killings.

Even the Gunners' second-string side were expected to end Fleetwood Town's knockout adventure with relative ease, but a tetchy 1-1 draw and scarcely believable penalty shootout defeat inexplicably sent Arsenal crashing out to the Cods in the fourth round.

Max Dowman's contentious red card - and Arsenal's subsequent failed appeal - told the story of a Halloween horror show for the North London giants, whose fans are still awaiting a first League Cup success since all the way back in 1993.

However, Arsenal are now only being kept off the top of the Premier League due to an inferior goal difference to Man City at the time of writing, as last weekend's 2-0 beating of Everton marked their third straight victory in the top tier, and their seventh from eight league games all told in 2026-27.

The Gunners have also suffered just one loss in their last eight Premier League matches against Liverpool, but not since Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla's strikes in 2012 have they prevailed in a top-flight contest at Anfield, leaving them at risk of going 14 league games without a win away to Liverpool for the first time ever.

Liverpool Premier League form:

Liverpool form (all competitions):

Arsenal Premier League form:

Arsenal form (all competitions):

Team News

Neither Dominik Szoboszlai (hamstring) nor Victor Munoz (knee) have been ruled out for Liverpool this weekend; Iraola confirmed in his pre-game press conference that both men are in with "a chance" of facing the champions.

Florian Wirtz also made a rapid recovery from an ankle knock to feature against Chelsea in midweek, but none of Hugo Ekitike (Achilles), Conor Bradley (knee), Jeremie Frimpong (hamstring) and Giovanni Leoni (knee) will be back just yet for the hosts.

More changes are afoot after Iraola rotated his resources in midweek, and Wirtz will be among the big-hitters to return alongside Alexander Isak (six goals in his last six Premier League games) and Bradley Barcola, who boasts three goals and two assists from his last four appearances.

As for Arsenal, teenage sensation Dowman begins a three-game domestic ban after the FA upheld his sending-off against Fleetwood, depriving Arteta of another right-wing option while Bukayo Saka recovers from a serious quad injury.

Noni Madueke (ankle) remains uncertain too, but Declan Rice, Riccardo Calafiori and Christos Tzolis have all trained and are expected to make the cut on Merseyside. William Saliba (back) is a long-term omission.

After a plethora of second-string players failed to justify their midweek inclusions, the likes of Illan Meslier, Piero Hincapie, Martin Zubimendi, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Cristhian Mosquera will all make way.

Liverpool possible starting lineup:

Alisson; Araujo, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Barcola, Wirtz, Gakpo; Isak

Arsenal possible starting lineup:

Raya; White, Konsa, Gabriel, Calafiori; Rice, Guimaraes; Madueke, Odegaard, Eze; Gyokeres

We say: Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal

Expect a response of epic proportions from Arteta's Arsenal, who remain the strongest defensive team in the Premier League, even if they cannot be backed to blow rivals away by four or five-goal margins.

The Gunners' visit will be a true examination of Liverpool's renewed attacking firepower, and Iraola's men should break through once, but only once as the champions take a point back to the capital.

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