Mikel Arteta is hoping his Arsenal side can avoid the Anfield “washing machine” to secure a long-awaited victory at Liverpool and top the Premier League table on Christmas Day.
The Gunners boss will be aiming for a clean sheet after likening the challenge of playing away to Liverpool as being stuck on a spin cycle.
Arsenal have not won at Anfield since Arteta was part of the side that secured a 2-0 victory in September 2012.
The Spaniard knows first-hand the challenge of getting a result at Liverpool, having also gone there with neighbours Everton before his stint at Arsenal.
Victory, though, would be enough to keep the north London side top of the tree over the Christmas period but Arteta – who once piped ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ around the training ground in a forlorn attempt to prepare his side for the atmosphere of Anfield – knows it will not be easy.
“It is different, different like Old Trafford,” he said.
“Old Trafford has a beautiful atmosphere as well and something that historically is an unbelievable place to go. There are a few in this country. The Emirates is one of them as well.
“I think I explained that sometimes when you don’t feel at your best and you feel that they are on top of you and you cannot get out of that washing machine.
“You try to overcome those situations but that’s a learning — it happened once and it didn’t happen again.”
Asked how to counter such a problem, Arteta said he wants his own team to put the hosts in a spin by “putting on our washing machine that is very powerful”.
Not someone who is afraid to air his dirty linen in public, two years ago Arteta was involved in a touchline spat with Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp that seemed to galvanise the home supporters as Liverpool once again ran out victors.
Speaking ahead of Saturday evening’s clash, Klopp has called on Liverpool’s fans to bring the noise and said it should not take him clashing with an opposing manager to find a spark.
But Arteta said “there won’t be any” trouble on the touchline after he picked up his fourth booking of the season in last weekend’s win over Brighton.
Instead, Arteta has now challenged his Arsenal side to end another hoodoo and win at Anfield for the first time in 11 years.
Having toasted four years as Arsenal manager earlier in the week, Arteta has already overseen wins at Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham, while this season they beat Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium.
Next up is to leave Anfield with three points and Arteta added: “We have done it at Old Trafford, we have done it at Stamford Bridge and many other places where we haven’t done it for years.
“This is the next challenge. Go there and win. If you want to be at the top you have to go to those places and be dominant. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
