Its' a big weekend when Liverpool are going to face Arsenal at their home Emirates Stadium on Sunday, 17 April, 2011. Liverpool have won only one of their last 10 top flight meetings with Arsenal, although five of their last seven fixtures have ended in draws. Arsenal will be trying their best to get three points from this game as they are trying hard to catch up with Manchester united who are leading the Barclay's Premier League table with 69 points, 7 points ahead of Arsenal. Liverpool’s form has much improved since the arrival of Kenny Dalglish and Andy Carroll and Suarez were added to the squad. However, Liverpool still lack real consistency and are something of a dodgy bet away from Anfield. Under Dalglish’s guidance they’ve notched impressive wins over United, Chelsea and City but at the same time they’ve been particularly poor in defeats to West Ham, Blackpool, West Brom and Sporting Braga. All away games. Arsenal have won the last two meetings between these teams at Emirates Stadium and are unbeaten against the Merseysiders in six games home and away. You don’t get 8/11 on Arsenal at home too often and though Liverpool are coming off an impressive win over Man City they have struggled away from home all season, no matter who has been in charge.
When two giants of the game meet each other you know you are going to get something special so when Arsenal welcome fellow giants Liverpool to the Emirates stadium for this weekends Super Sunday it is sure to be a cracker. There is still plenty to play for for both these sides with Arsenal gunning for the title and Liverpool looking to secure European football.
A win for Arsenal will close the gap at the top to four points and with the league leaders in cup action this weekend there will be some extra pressure placed upon them for their next league encounter. It is a similar story for Liverpool as they look to close in on fifth place. A win for them could prove vital in their bid for European football and will put pressure on the teams above them.
So it is safe to say that both these sides will be going all out for the win as neither can afford to lose but with the home advantage perhaps Arsenal have to be favoured for the three points. They will only be slight favourites however as they have been struggling in recent weeks while Liverpool have really raised their game for the big occasions this season and with their new strike partnership beginning to click they will look to score goals.
Johan Djourou and Bacary Sagna could make their returns for Arsenal in this match after recovering from injuries while Wojciech Szczesny may return in goal after resuming full training following a dislocated finger.
There are no fresh concerns for Liverpool but Daniel Agger and Steven Gerrard remain out. Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez are expected to partner each other up front after the pair impressed last time out.
Preamble If only failure was rewarded this well in real life, rather than with restraining orders, compromised livers, and self-bloody-awareness. Arsenal have not won the League Cup since 1993, when it was sponsored by Cavity Creater, yet they are the Carling darlings, the No1 reason to follow a competition that is actually more interesting than the FA Cup these days.
Quite right too. Every year Arsenal's kids, with their unfettered talent, charm us on their way to Inevitable Defeat At The Feet Of Bigger Boys In The Later Rounds. We may have to suspend belief to presume that a decent percentage of these foetuses really will go all the way in the game – look what happened to most of the side that spanked a strong Everton team in 2004-05 – but we are happy to do so, because this is football directed by John Hughes, a starburst of mischief and teenage hope in an otherwise cynical, soulless world. It keeps us young.
That sounded desperately pretentious, didn't it? Come on, this is the Guardian.
Win win win! We have tickets for Arsenal v AZ Alkmaar and you plebs can't have th and, as we are feeling generous, we are offering you the chance to win them.
Team news Rafa Benitez commits the cardinal sin of changing a winning side. In fact there are 10 changes from the team that beat 11 traffic cones on Sunday, but Alberto Aquilani isn't one of them. He's on the bench. Arsene Wenger makes 11 changes from the side that drew at West Ham. Nonetheless, it's a disappointingly experienced Arsenal side, including Samir Nasri, who is back after knack. Jack Wilshere is presumably injured.
Arsenal (4-1-2-3) Fabianski; Gilbert, Senderos, Silvestre, Gibbs; Eastmond; Ramsey, Nasri; Bendtner, Eduardo, Merida.
Subs: Szczesny, Bartley, Coquelin, Frimpong, Randall, Sunu, Watt.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1) Cavalieri; Degen, Skrtel, Kyrgiakos, Insua; Spearing, Plessis; Kuyt, Voronin, Babel; Ngog.
Subs: Reina, Aquilani, Benayoun, Darby, Dossena, Eccleston, Ayala.
Referee Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)
Pre-match emails
"Does this match set a record for the number of non-English players involving two English teams?" - Barry Walsh.
"Don't you think it's time for the media in general and fans alike, to
boycott games where teams do not field their best line-ups?" - Michael Philip. (No)
"I read an interesting interview with Danny Karbassiyoon (who was in that 2004 team), that talks about being one of the Arsenal kids and not making it" - David Leech.
"By my reckoning, eight of the 14 players that played for Arsenal in the
Everton match you mentioned are now actually playing Premiership-standard
football. Not too shabby, is it?" - Alex Vougioukas. (Yes, but I said go all the way. Only van Persie might be argued to have done that.)
1 min Arsenal kick off from left to right. Liverpool are in black.
2 min "Is there anyone who looks harder than Skrtel?" asks David Netherwood. "I mean really, if you bumped into someone who resembles him in an alley... I challenge anyone to find me a footballer who looks harder than Skrtel." Me. Next.
3 min Ngog gets free on the right and swings over a half-decent cross. Kuyt, arriving late 15 yards out, gets his body into a very awkward position – he looked a Rik Mayall character dry-humping fresh air – and sidefoots a volley wide of the far post.
5 min "Surely this is the oldest Arsenal Carling Cup side in a while?" says Tim Bailey. "The likes of creaky 32-year-old Silvestre and the ancient 26-year-old Eduardo have pushed the average age of the starting line-up up to a staggering 22.4 years. Wasn't last year's side full of 16-year-olds and random schoolchildren that happened to be hanging around the Emirates at the time?"
Aye, and to be fair I reckon it would have been today had they not drawn a Big Five Side. Arsene Wenger has to balance the desire to give the kids crucial experience with the need to not expose them to the scars of a potential thrashing.
7 min Arsenal are passing the ball round pretty well, although without Wilshere and Vela there is less excitement about the game. There's always Aaron Ramsey I suppose. Good old Aaron Ramsey.
8 min "I'm not sure how you can write off the careers of Edu, Pennant, and Flamini quite so easily," says Paul Martinovic. "Unless 'go all the way' is an off-colour reference to [snip - imaginary legal ed]."
Are Edu, Pennant and Flamini great of potential greats of the game? No. The definition was pretty clear.
9 min Pass the corset: somebody is punching a beach ball around the terraces. AHAHAHJAHAHAHAHA.
10 min Degen misses a great chance for Liverpool. Ngog's fine backheel bisected Gibbs and Senderos and put the right-back Degen through on goal, 15 yards out. He tried to arrow it into the far corner with the outside of the right foot, but got no bend on it and just stabbed it wide.
11 min Skrtel bodychecks Nasri right on the edge of the box, a few yards left of centre. Nasri lifts the free-kick over the wall and wide of the near post with Cavalieri motionless, pondering it all.
13 min It's a pretty open game so far. Arsenal are shading it in terms of ball-retention, but Liverpool look the more penetrative. Those observations aren't worth a vigorous one, in truth, as we've only had 13 minutes.
15 min Voronin charges down Fabianski's clearance, but the ball flies safely for a throw-in. Voronin, amusingly, had injured himself in the unusual act of doing something and will probably need to go off.
16 min "I can't help suspecting you've made up the names on the Arsenal bench," says Hugh Barker. "Coquelin? Frimpong? Really??"
Oh there's nobody called 'Really' on the bench. And yes – yes – I am here all week. Or at least till security bundle me out the door.
17 min Almost a gorgeous goal from Arsenal. Gibbs clipped the ball into Bendtner, 25 yards out, and he played a wonderfully penetrative one-two with Eduardo. That put Bendtner through on Cavalieri, but he couldn't decide whether to shoot for goal or pass it to Ramsey, who was square and had an open goal. He did neither, and looked a bit of an arse as he ran beyond the ball while Cavalieri picked it up. A shame, as the build-up was exquisite.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Liverpool (Merida 19) Fran Merida scores his first goal for Arsenal, and it's a scorcher. Voronin's dismal lay-off to Babel was intercepted by the right-back Gilbert, and as the ball broke loose 20 yards out, on the right corner of the box, the left-winger Merida spanked it first time past Cavalieri and in off the top of the near post. Fabulous goal.
20 min "Edu," says Michael Scallon. "Now there was a lovely Nonsense Game Only player. He only ever seemed to play in cup ties (deflected free kick at Old Trafford in 2003), the end of season league games that nobody cares about (he was wonderful in 7-0 against Everton in 2004-05), or in an injury crisis. Wenger could have got more out of him." I liked Edu a lot. Are you doing him a disservice? I recall him playing a lot in the Invincibles season, though I might be wrong.
21 min So, when did Liverpool last lose five out of six?
23 min Babel does extremely well to cushion a long, angled pass on the corner of the six-yard box. He then lays it back to Voronin, whose first touch is Dawson's-Creek-conversation-heavy and allows Senderos to clear easily. Voronin, sadly for Liverpool, looks okay to carry on now.
25 min Why are goals that go in off the woodwork so much more rewarding? It's like the best foreplay ever.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool (Insua 26) Another absolute peach. A filthy hoof from Skrtel was knocked back by Babel on the edge of the box and Insua, who had run beyond Bendtner, knocked it into the space and then let it bounce before cutting across a beautiful strike that swooshed and dipped over the head of Fabianski and into the net. It's his first goal for Liverpool. Some might blame Fabianski, because it was so central, but it was a fantastic strike and it was moving all over the place.
27 min "I can confirm that Edu has played in more meaningless games than Edu-ardo," says Toss. "Though Edu-ardo might be aspiring to close the gap."
28 min "Which approach does the consensus favour as most effective?" begins Ethan Dean-Richards. "Man Utd's loaning out of young players, Arsenal's using them in the cup competitions, or Liverpool's complete apathy towards them?" I quite like West Ham's actually using them in the league, even if it isn't especially effective just now.
31 min "Evening Rob," says Phil Sawyer. "'Arsene Wenger has to balance the desire to give the kids crucial experience with the need to not expose them to the scars of a potential thrashing'? (5 min). Presumably you're saying that thrashing Liverpool this early in their careers might give them inflated ideas of their own ability?"
I've said it before and I'll say it again: honk!
32 min Liverpool are having a decent spell and win a corner. They don't score from it, though, so I'm not sure why I'm typing all this. Sorry.
33 min "Johan Cruyff used to say he enjoyed hitting the post as much as scoring," says Mike Shallcross. "He loved the sound. This might be why he is the greatest player of all time but doesn't have a World Cup winner's medal." It is a fiercely erotic sound.
34 min "I believe the 'best foreplay ever' involves woodwork, a stick of butter and the smooth sounds of Kenny G," says Colin Greer.
35 min Bendtner dives risibly over a challenge from Insua. Three-match ban please!
36 min "He was a bit unlucky in his time, if memory serves," says Michael Scallon. "When he came to Arsenal, it was Parlour-Vieira, and then once The Romford Pele got old, he bought Gilberto, so when everyone was fit he didn't often get a game. And he scored a lot of own-goals too, I think, which doesn't help. If I was picking the team, instead of someone infinitely more qualified and able, I'd have picked him every week. He was really good." He was a poor man's Petit, which is pretty high praise in Arsenal circles.
37 min A gloriously aware pass from Ramsey, opening up the Liverpool defence like someone whisking away a towel in a locker room, puts Merida clear on the left side of the box. Cavalieri comes to meet him so Merida has to take it first time, but his on-target effort is headed away by Skrtel for a corner. From it, the ball breaks to Bendtner beyond the far post, and his shot from a tight angle is smothered by Cavalieri. That was bigger-picture football at its best from Ramsey.
39 min Voronin is utter garbage.
41 min See 39 min.
43 min After a ridiculous scramble, sparked by Cavalieri dropping a corner from the left, Liverpool escape twice. First Plessis blocked a close-range shot and a few seconds later, with Cavalieri now back in his goal, Bendtner's shot on the turn from six yards was straight at the keeper.
44 min "Colin Greer is either clinically disturbed, or in prison," says Richard Marshall. "Or both."
45 min "Dossena or Voronin," says Jeff Woodman. "Pick one and defend your decision." Can I phone a friend?
Half time: Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool An open half, two fine goals and a fair scoreline. What more could you want? Oh. See you in 10 minutes.
Half-time emails
"The thing about Voronin is that he looks like he'd be good in Europe. Not the Champions League obviously, I mean the 1980s cock-rock band" - David Jones.
"I'd have to go with Dossena over Voronin. He may be a rubbish defender but at least he scores once in a while" - John Powers.
"The relentless conveyor belt of Arsenal potential that subsequently goes largely unrealised - even Little Cesc, in his sixth season at Arsenal (nearly 250 games!) has just an FA Cup to show for it - calls into question exactly what it is that Arsene knows. Spotting a player? Yes. Developing a player fully? Not in my less than humble opinion" - Gary Naylor.
"Why oh why do so many footy players seem to be doing their knackers in these days? Bring back the old days of metatarsals" - Paul Hughes.
"Btw, Fran Merida is a Barca youth product. Just giving credit where
credit is due. I'm confused about the Premier League and managers though. So, there are these teams with Life Term Managers it seems (Benitez, Wenger, etc.) who don't really win things despite massive outlays of money and exceptional players. Why?" - Melissa F.
"Your last line at half-time got me thinking. How can you see me in 10 minutes? You aren't even talking to me, let alone seeing me across the digital gulch. Shouldn't you (write) 'write back at you in 10 mins'?" - Drew Blair.
46 min Liverpool kick off from left to right. No substitutions.
47 min "Talking about the sound of the ball hitting the post, I've always enjoyed that metallic sound that the net at the Amsterdam ArenA makes when someone scores," pants James Collins, wearing out his DVD of Ajax's last 5-0 home win.
48 min I didn't mention young Eastmond in the first half, but that's only because holding midfielders never really draw much attention in MBMs, such is the generally unobtrusive nature of their work. He looked very composed and mature, though, and helped Gilbert rob Babel in the build-up to Merina's goal.
49 min "How has Nasri been playing?" says Robert Wade. Alright I suppose. His run for the early free-kick on the edge of the area was lovely. I'm not convinced the central role suits him, though; he's a touch too deep.l
GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool (Bendtner 50) Arsenal are back in front. The move started with a snappy first-time pass from Eastmond to Merida on the left wing. He played the ball across the face of the area towards Bendtner and Eduardo. They almost got in each other's way, but Bendtner took the initiative, shifted the ball to the side of Skrtel and crunched it above Cavalieri from the left corner of the six-yard box.
51 min "Own goals aside, doesn't Edu's reputation suffer because of the sort of player he was?" asks Adrian Cooper. "The vicious enforcers, such as Makelele, stand out as do the runaround-like-a-headless-chicken types, like Gerard will always stand out but, in my mind, Edu's talent lay in an ability to influence the pace of the game. Not to speed things up and charge at the opposition but as someone that knows when to slow things down and ease off. Pedro Mendes was similar - also underrated but with able to take charge and dictate the pace when players around him were getting a bit too carried away."
53 min After a lovely run from Nasri on the right, Merida's toepoked low cross just eludes Eduardo, six yards out.
54 min "Just been in the garden to test out the sound of ball on post," says Paul Hughes. "Perfect shot hit my jumper on the ground. Just made a PHHHHHHUT sound. Didn't turn me on. Maybe I need some butter."
55 min After some very fine one-touch play between Voronin and Degen, Voronin's low cross shot from the right side of the box goes just wide of the far post.
58 min "The ping of dimpled rubber Tuftex balls embedding their maker's name into the frozen thigh of the school spanner," reminisces Ben Dunn. "That's the sound of true football."
60 min Liverpool are having a lot of the ball now, but they aren't creating much. Their most purposeful attacking threat is probably the right-back Degen.
63 min I've just realised that Dirk Kuyt is on the pitch. Gibbs has had him in his pocket.
64 min Aquilani will surely be on soon, though there are no signs that his arrival is imminent.
65 min "Degen is useful in the Carling Cup," says Mark Kyburz. "No more, no less."
66 min Liverpool win a free-kick 35 yards out. Voronin touches it off for Babel, whose fierce low shot forces a decent sprawling catch from Fabianski. That one came right off Babel's sweet spot.
67 min "Mr Cooper (51 mins) has a point about who gets noticed on a football field," says Gary Naylor. "I love players who win the ball ten yards or so inside their own half, then advance ten yards into the opposition half before playing a pass forward to a man wearing the same shirt. Ray Wilkins got 80-odd England caps for a lot less than that. Peter Reid and Paul Bracewell, both of whom did that simple task repeatedly for Everton's great team of the mid-80s, got 16 caps between them."
68 min Arsenal have become sloppy in possession, subconsciously sitting on the 2-1 scoreline. Meanwhile, Skrtel is getting treatment after accidentally ramming his chin into Eduardo's head. Yeah, Skrtel's hard.
69 min "Anyone remember Edu's goal against Celta Vigo in the Big Cup circa 2004 I think?" asks David Hunt. "Stunning. I was a huge fan of his, reckon he could have been a really top player if it wasn't for all the injuries. His ability to read a situation and intercept passes was uncanny." He had a rare combination of elegance and genuine toughness.
71 min Merida's devastating, dipping free-kick from the right was about to be touched home by Eduardo, six yards out, when the ever diligent Kuyt put it past his own post for a corner. Fine defending.
72 min "Voronin touched it off and helped Babel find his sweet spot?" pants Adrian Cooper. "Is it time to get the butter out, or have we moved past that stage already?"
74 min A Liverpool substitution: Yossi Benayoun replaces David Ngog, who started brightly but faded. Babel will go up front.
75 min Arsenal bring on Mark Randall and Sanchez Watt for Craig Eastmond, who should be extremely proud of a startlingly mature Arsenal debut in the most important position on the pitch, and Nicklas Bendtner, who should be extremely proud of... er, we'll get back to you on that one.
77 min Here comes Alberto Aquilani, on for Damien Plessis.
78 min Watt receives possession in a farcical amount of space in the box, but instead of shooting he tries to go round Skrtel, who drapes an arm across Watt's chest to allow the ball to run through to Cavalieri. Is that a foul? I don't know anymore. Nobody appealed.
79 min "Is Aquilani injured yet?" honks Bruce Gow.
80 min Babel misses a sitter. Voronin played a good one-two with Babel 20 yards out and slipped it inside Gibbs for Kuyt, who sidefooted such an inviting cross along the six-yard box. Babel only had to touch it past Fabianski, but he completely missed it.
81 min Eduardo squirms away from Skrtel and then toebungs across goal and a few yards wide from a tight angle on the left of the box.
82 min Liverpool are really pressing, and Voronin's beautifully struck 25-yard shot goes straight at Fabianski. A few yards either side, etc.
83 min "Yeah, Edu had a bit of the Gustavo Poyet about him; nothing violently tough, just 'take no shit' tough," says Michael Scallon. "Whereas Thomas Gravesen was actually scary, Edu, Poyet, Nobby Solano and Pedro Mendes were mentally tough enough to mix it without looking like a scared bunny (Laurent Robert never quite managed this, bless him, he was moderately good but seemed a bit too wimpy)."
84 min Aquilani watch: just one high-class, driven crossfield pass to Degen a few minutes back.
86 min Liverpool are running out of time. Apart from a few minutes around the 80-minute mark, they have struggled to get momentum because of substitutions and injury stoppages.
87 min And here's another of those stoppages: Fran Merida is replaced by Francis Coquelin.
88 min An appalling pass from Ramsey finds Babel, and his first-time pass puts Voronin through on goal - but he is wrongly flagged offside. He wasn't central, but he was miles clear of the defenders and bearing down on Fabianski, so Liverpool will feel aggrieved about that.
89 min Philipp Degen is replaced by a debutant striker, Nathan Eccleston.
90 min There will be a minimum of four minutes of added time.
90+1 min Arsenal are keeping the ball pretty effectively at the moment.
90+2 min Liverpool have six men in the box and appeal for handball when Aquilani's scissor-kick is blocked. It did hit both Senderos's arms, but he was only a few yards from Aquilani. It's the sort of penalty a home side gets.
VS 
