Paul Merson has offered his verdict ahead of Liverpool\u2019s heavyweight Premier League clash away to Arsenal on Thursday night, with the reigning champions travelling to face the league leaders at the Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta\u2019s side head into the contest holding a commanding 14-point lead over the Reds, who have endured a frustrating start to 2026 with back-to-back draws against Leeds and Fulham. Liverpool could also be without their top scorer Hugo Ekitike, should the forward fail to recover from injury in time.<\/p>\n
Chris Sutton has already predicted a comfortable home victory for Arsenal, and Merson has echoed that view.
\nMerson\u2019s prediction for Arsenal v Liverpool
\nWriting in his midweek Premier League predictions for Sportskeeda, the former Arsenal midfielder tipped his old club to secure a 3-1 win.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIf you\u2019re Arsenal, this is the perfect moment to play Liverpool. A win at the Emirates would end Liverpool\u2019s title hopes completely. Something just doesn\u2019t seem right with Liverpool at the moment, and I can\u2019t see them getting anything from this game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sounds strange, but I\u2019d genuinely be more surprised by Liverpool winning at Arsenal than by Wolves or Leeds picking up away wins this weekend. Arsenal\u2019s second string would give problems to almost every team in the league \u2014 that\u2019s how strong their squad is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merson also questioned one of Arne Slot\u2019s late decisions during last weekend\u2019s draw, adding: \u201cI don\u2019t understand why Slot took Cody Gakpo off after he\u2019d scored against Fulham. If Gakpo stays on, he probably tracks Harrison Reed before that incredible late goal. For me, it was a really poor call from the Liverpool manager.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liverpool should not be written off
\nDespite the widespread expectation that Arsenal will prevail, Liverpool have already beaten Arteta\u2019s side this season \u2014 along with victories over Real Madrid, Aston Villa and Inter Milan \u2014 without conceding a single goal in those matches.<\/p>\n
It has been dropped points against lower-half opposition that have damaged their league campaign, rather than struggles in big games. Even without Alexander Isak, Mohamed Salah and potentially Ekitike, Slot still has enough quality at his disposal to approach this fixture without fear.<\/p>\n
Liverpool are rarely viewed as clear underdogs in domestic matches, and that status could work in their favour. The pressure will be firmly on Arsenal to take the initiative, particularly if Manchester City and Aston Villa both win to close the gap at the top.<\/p>\n
While neutrals may understandably back the Gunners, it\u2019s worth remembering that Liverpool \u2014 not Arsenal \u2014 are proven title winners. This match presents a perfect chance for Slot\u2019s side to silence critics like Merson and Sutton, and remind everyone exactly why Liverpool are the reigning champions of England. 🔴<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paul Merson has offered his verdict ahead of Liverpool\u2019s heavyweight Premier League clash away to Arsenal on Thursday night, with the reigning champions travelling to face the league leaders at the Emirates Stadium. Mikel Arteta\u2019s side head into the contest holding a commanding 14-point lead over the Reds, who have endured a frustrating start to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":57445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/merson-arsenal-liverpool-1200x676.jpg-1.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57446,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57444\/revisions\/57446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}