Five straight wins have dragged Liverpool back into the title conversation — but on Sunday at Anfield, Andoni Iraola's revival meets the one opponent that can expose it as a mirage: champions Arsenal.
The turnaround has been startling. Three weeks ago Liverpool were humbled 3-0 at home by Manchester City and Iraola's stuttering start was the story of the season. Since then: a 2-1 win at Brentford, a 2-0 defeat of high-flying Brighton that lifted them to fourth, and Wednesday's penalty shoot-out victory over Chelsea in the Carabao Cup. Nine wins from their last eleven in all competitions, per Football Whispers' form guide, have cut the gap to Arsenal to six points. Win on Sunday (4.30pm GMT) and it is three.
The Anfield curse Arsenal cannot shake
History is on Liverpool's side. Arsenal have not won a Premier League match at Anfield since September 2012 — thirteen visits, eight defeats and five draws, a run stretching back to when Mikel Arteta was still wearing the shirt. And these Gunners arrive with wounds of their own: thrashed 3-0 at Brighton in September, humiliated by League Two Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, and travelling without Bukayo Saka (quadriceps), William Saliba (back, out until December) and the suspended Max Dowman. Noni Madueke faces a late fitness test, leaving Arteta short of wide options, as Football365's preview sets out.
Team news: the cavalry returns on both sides
Liverpool rested their £100 million trio — Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola — against Chelsea, and all three return fresh on Sunday. There may be more: as we reported this morning, Dominik Szoboszlai and Victor Munoz both have a chance of making the squad after three games out. Arsenal's boost comes in midfield and defence, with Declan Rice, Riccardo Calafiori and Christos Tzolis all back in training — the spine Arteta needs for an Anfield siege, on a weekend when his handling of Dowman has already dominated the build-up after his "not in Disneyland" warning.
So what is really at stake?
Everything the table cannot show. Arsenal, level on points with Manchester City at the top, can reassert the authority of champions and bury a rival. Liverpool can prove the revival is real — or watch a nine-point gap reopen the questions about Iraola that a kind fixture list has only paused. Revivals are declared in games like this, not against teams you are expected to beat.
Beyond the Final Whistle: This is the match that tells us what Liverpool actually are. Five wins against beatable opposition prove nothing yet; beating the champions at Anfield, against an Arsenal side that cannot win there and arrives patched up, would make Iraola's men genuine contenders. We lean Liverpool — the curse, the crowd and the fresher legs all point one way. Can Arsenal finally win at Anfield after fourteen years? Have your say in the comments.
