Liverpool legend Graeme Souness believes the Reds’ clash with Arsenal on Sunday already “must-win” for the Gunners if they are to win the Premier League this season
Arsenal have been warned that Sunday’s clash with Liverpool is already a “must-win” game for them.
The Gunners currently sit third in the Premier League after suffering a shock 2-0 loss to Bournemouth last weekend and a defeat to Liverpool will leave them seven points behind league leaders Liverpool.
It would also leave Arsenal six points behind defending champions Manchester City, provided they beat Southampton this weekend, and Liverpool legend Graeme Souness believes that would be a “serious dent” to their title hopes.
“We are only eight games into the season, but this already feels like a ‘must-win’ for Arsenal,” Souness said in a column for the Daily Mail. “It is certainly a bigger game for them than it is Liverpool, in terms of how it impacts their season and their immediate welfare.
“Lose and they will be seven points behind their opponents and almost certainly six behind Manchester City, who host Southampton on Saturday. Given the fine margins of recent seasons in the title race, that would feel like a big lead to give two excellent rivals.
“With that there will be talk of their challenge taking a serious dent, and the pressure on the games after — trips to Newcastle and Chelsea — will be huge. A defeat on Sunday would take some recovering from, and they would have to win some very big matches to get people believing again.
“I’m not sure how some of their players would handle that. But that is the price on the ticket if you’re a big player at a big club — deal with it! And the best way to do that? It’s very simple: go and beat Liverpool.”
However, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta is confident his side will be “flying” when they take on Liverpool. “I was expecting a bit of a drop off,” Arteta admitted after Arsenal’s narrow 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.
“And the fact that we put so much in the first half and didn’t get the distance in terms of the scoreline, I think we paid a bit for that. Then we made life more difficult for us because we started give the ball away in not the right areas and then it was more open.
“That didn’t help. But we have now four days. Believe me, come Sunday we’ll be flying. For sure. We’ll review, have a day off, then two days to prepare the game. Sunday is far and we are more than comfortable that we’ll be in the right place.”
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