Premier League giants Liverpool and Arsenal lock horns on Sunday at
Anfield with both teams looking to turn their midweek misfortunes
around.
Liverpool lost yet again in the Champions League, 2-1 at home to
Fiorentina, while the Gunners suffered a 1-0 reversal at Olympiacos,
although manager Arsene Wenger did rest a whole host of first-team
regulars.
Rafa Benitez will have been boosted by the first-team return of
Alberto Aquilani, a £20million summer signing from AS Roma, as well as
their talismanic striker Fernando Torres on Wednesday.
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The Spaniard has missed much of his team's disappointing run of results that has now yielded just three wins from 13 fixtures.
On the back of this poor sequence of results, the Reds sit in a lowly seventh position, well below their expected standard.
Wenger's outfit occupy third position, eight points behind leaders
Chelsea although they do have a game in hand on their London rivals.
The Gunners boss was not overly concerned that his side slipped to
defeat in Greece but was in fact proud of the display his youngsters
put on.
Kerrea Gilbert, Fran Merida, Carlos Vela and Jack Wilshere all
featured and performed admirably in a side with an average age of just
21.
The Frenchman fielded two debutants, 18-year-old pair Kyle Bartley and Tom Cruise.
Star striker Robin van Persie's surgery to reconstruct ankle
ligaments is expected to keep him out for another three to four months
with injury-plagued Tomas Rosicky also out with a groin strain.
Kieran Gibbs (fractured metatarsal), Johan Djouoru (knee) and Nicklas Bendtner (hernia) also remain on the sidelines.
Liverpool have turned the corner as far as their injury problems
are concerned. Ryan Babel, who is nursing a ankle knock, is the only
player among Benitez's ranks that is causing concern, but he is
expected to be fit for Sunday's crunch clash.
Arsenal will be looking to sink the knife further into Benitez's
wounds and, after their elimination from the Champions League, the Reds
must get back to winning ways in the league.
Source: DSG