Mikel Arteta hints at Arsenal injury boost for Liverpool clash

The Gunners once again enter the latest round of fixtures with an eight-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the table, although the champions boast a game in hand and can cut the gap down to five with victory over Southampton on Saturday.

Arsenal are already known to be without long-term knee victims Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mohamed Elneny for the trip to Anfield, as the pair continue to recover from operations that have ruled them out for the remainder of the season.

However, both of William Saliba (back) and Eddie Nketiah (ankle) are not expected to be out for much longer, and Arteta has offered fresh hope that one of the duo could play a part against Liverpool.

"No, no real changes with the rest of the players that were still injured. We have some hope with one of them, maybe he is able to train tomorrow, but we have to see," Arteta told reporters at his pre-game press conference.

Typically remaining tight-lipped over injury news, when questioned which player could be ready to train on Saturday, Arteta responded: "I'm not going to tell you!"

Should Saliba be the one to prove his fitness in time for the Anfield showdown, Rob Holding could be sacrificed, although Nketiah would be unlikely to force his way back into the fold over a fit-again Gabriel Jesus.

Seven places and 29 points separate Arsenal and Liverpool in the table ahead of Sunday's contest, and October's showdown at the Emirates saw Arsenal prevail 3-2 for their first Premier League win over Liverpool since July 2020.

However, the Gunners are winless in nine Premier League contests away from home against the Reds since September 2012, when Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla were on target in a 2-0 victory.

Despite not being able to snap Arsenal's Anfield hoodoo, Arteta believes that his side's recent ability to end winless runs at particular stadiums will serve them well against Jurgen Klopp's out-of-sorts team.

"We've been a few grounds that we haven't won in 17 or 20 years and we've managed to do that," the Spaniard added. "We are capable of doing that, we know that we are going to have to be at our very best to win the game and certainly better than the second half last year, when we just opened up and allowed Liverpool to attack open spaces in a really comfortable way."

Since last being subjected to a drubbing on the red half of Merseyside, Arsenal have added to their attacking ranks with the signing of Leandro Trossard, who knows a thing or two about prolific Anfield performances.

The Belgian came up with a memorable treble for Brighton & Hove Albion in a 3-3 draw in October, following in the footsteps of Peter Ndlovu and ex-Arsenal man Andrey Arshavin as just the third player to score a Premier League hat-trick against Liverpool at Anfield.

"It's great to have a player that has experienced something really nice and positive at that stadium. Leo was a crucial player on that day, it was a beautiful game to watch, and we need players with lots of belief on that pitch," Arteta said on Trossard.

The former Brighton man has enjoyed a fast start to life at the Emirates with one goal and seven assists from 13 games in all tournaments, but he is fighting to retain his place in the first XI with Bukayo Saka now fully recovered from illness.