Arsenal target end to Anfield hoodoo as Liverpool visit offers chance to go top
Arsenal head to Liverpool in the Premier League this afternoon with a place at the top of the table the prize at stake.
Defeat for Manchester City on Saturday means the Gunners will take the lead in the title race, if defeat is avoided at Anfield. Liverpool, meanwhile, will want a win that could see Andoni Iraola's improving team close the gap to the top to just three points.
Trips to Liverpool have not been fruitful for Arsenal in recent seasons. The Gunners have not won at Anfield in the Premier League since September 2012, when goals from Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla earned Arsenal an early-season win on the road.
Mikel Arteta was in midfield for Arsenal the last time the North Londoners earned a league win at Liverpool, with the club's record since then making for grim reading. Arsenal are winless in their last 13 league visits to Liverpool (D5 L8).
However, Arsenal have never gone 14 games at Anfield without a win, with their previous 13-game winless run broken by a historic 2-0 final-day victory in the 1988-89 season that snatched the Division 1 title from their opponents.
Arsenal also have a good recent record against Liverpool overall. The Gunners have lost just once in the last eight meetings in all competitions, when Dominik Szoboszlai's stunning free-kick sealed a 1-0 win for Liverpool last season.
Arteta says chance to end Anfield record is an opportunity for Arsenal
Ahead of the game, Arteta called the clash an opportunity for his side to break an unwanted record.
"It’s an opportunity. I came here [to Arsenal] and in many places we were 20, 22 years, 18 years without winning, and we’ve been doing all these things, so on Sunday, that’s the opportunity that we have," he said.
"We're going there with full conviction; that's number one, and we've been very, very close in the last few years to win. But something is missed, and that's what we've been discussing the last few days. To go there with a real purpose. To hurt them and get away from there with a victory."
