The Premier League is back for another weekend and rounding off the slate of fixtures is a blockbuster tie between two of the sides aiming to halt Mancher City’s run of consecutive league titles.

Current table-toppers Liverpool travel to the Emirates to take on a wounded Arsenal side set to be without stars such as Martin Ødegaard and the suspended William Saliba.

Arsenal need to overcome adversity

Looking ahead to the game, Warren Ashurst was joined on The Assist by the Racing Post’s tipsters Mark Langdon and Dan Childs. 

For Langdon, this is a crucial time period for Arsenal if they want to establish themselves as a threat for the title.

He said: “You’ve got to be able to cope with players missing because it’s unrealistic to expect Saliba and Gabriel to play every game together. Last season they didn’t have those issues but that’s not the norm. Manchester City are missing Rodri and [Kevin] De Bruyne. Last season there was a chunk of time when [Erling] Haaland wasn’t playing. 

“You find ways to win games or stay in title races. From Arsenal’s point of view, it’s a big loss but you have to be able to deal with it if you want to win a Premier League title, you can’t just assume that your best 11 is going to play every week.”

Meanwhile, this is the biggest test of new Liverpool manager Arne Slot’s reign so far. After a “favourable start on the fixture list”, is side backed up a 2-1 win over Chelsea last weekend with a win on Wednesday in the Champions League over RB Leipzig.

The tougher challenges are starting to come for Liverpool however, according to Childs,  it is “looking more and more positive at the moment by the week” for the club.

Best bets

When it comes to betting on the game, there were differing opinions between the tipsters.

Langdon is siding with a win for the Gunners despite the adversity they are facing while Childs is backing a stalemate between the two sides. Currently, Arsenal are 6/4 to pick up three points, Liverpool are 19/10 and a draw is at 9/4.

On his tip, Langdon said: “I think home advantage is really important in big games, and that might sound really obvious, but I wonder if it’s been factored enough into these prices.”

“When Liverpool went to the Emirates last season, they were well beaten, it was 3-1.  If you remember, that was the day that Odegaard took the picture and they were picture-perfect on that occasion.

“I’m not sure the Gunners will be this time around, but I felt the price has drifted to an acceptable price here [for Arsenal] to win the game.  

“For Liverpool, five of their last six wins have been by one goal. It doesn’t take much for that winning run to just end even if you’re not playing any differently”

Childs also pointed to Arsenal’s form at the Emirates, where they have dropped points on just two occasions this season, as the reason why he is choosing to back Arsenal to get a draw despite being underdogs in the game.