This week's Blood Red column looks ahead to Sunday's visit from Arsenal in the Premier League

By Sunday afternoon, Andoni Iraola will likely be sick of looking across the Anfield touchline at old friends in the visiting dugout.

Having already welcomed Villarreal boss Inigo Perez and Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso, Iraola will see another close pal standing across from him this weekend when Mikel Arteta's Arsenal arrive on Merseyside.

Such was Iraola's relationship with Perez, in fact, that he tried to bring him to Bournemouth only for work-permit issues to get in the way. His friendship with Alonso, meanwhile, dates back to their time together at grassroots club Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea in San Sebastian.

It's been so far so good for Iraola when it has come to entertaining his mates, having seen off both Perez and Alonso's sides in the Champions League and Carabao Cup respectively inside the last 10 days or so.

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Arteta and his squad of Premier League champions, however, represent a different task altogether. It is easy to see why so many have attached great significance to the result of what is still an early-season skirmish.

Victory for the Reds and it is the biggest sign yet that Iraola's men are heading in the right direction. It has even been floated that Liverpool may enter the realms of title talk, should they inflict a second defeat of the campaign on the champions this weekend.

Defeat stops the evident progress of recent weeks dead in its tracks though and the discourse will centre on how much further the Reds have to go before returning to the club's level from around 18 months ago.

A draw merely postpones definitive judgements and the sweeping conclusions can wait for another day.

But a visit from Arsenal is a reminder for Liverpool of how quickly things can really change. When the Gunners were beaten 1-0 at Anfield on August 31 last year, it was followed by a £125m deal for Alexander Isak a little over 24 hours later.

As Premier League champions and then leaders, who had just embarked on the most ambitious transfer window in their history by spending around £440m, many talked up the potential for a dynasty under Arne Slot, who had guided the team to the title in his first season at a canter just a few months prior.

By the end of that very same month, September 2025, the cracks had begun to show, starting with a deserved defeat at Crystal Palace. And by the end of November, Slot's men had lost nine of 12 and his job was hanging by a thread.

Football has a habit of making fools of even the most insightful analysts and commentators. It's worth remembering that when the verdicts pile in on Sunday evening, regardless of the actual result at Anfield. Supporters, at least, are happily not bound by a need to be measured and rational.

Victory for Liverpool against the champions will understandably see some become bullish about what can actually be achieved this term.

It's been difficult pinning expectations and demands on Iraola's new-look Liverpool in the opening few months. A new, hard-pressing style is gradually being implemented and while dazzling performances have not come overnight, a sequence of five straight wins across all competitions means they have now won nine of their last 11.

It's just one defeat so far - against leaders Manchester City, who scored all three goals after Ryan Gravenberch's red card - and the concept of Iraola rebuilding this squad's character has been prevalent in recent weeks.

Iraola's current Liverpool side are defensively solid and they are winning games largely on moments, particularly from Isak, who has six goals in seven league appearances while still having so much room to improve.

Isak's form, in many ways, mirrors this developing Liverpool team under Iraola. Cautious optimism is growing and by Sunday evening we will perhaps have a clearer indication of just how much there is for supporters to get excited by for the months ahead.