The Gunners take on Liverpool in the FA Cup Fourth Round at the Emirates today afternoon.
Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson has given his predictions for the Gunners’ FA Cup third round tie with Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.
Jurgen Klopp’s men are currently top of the Premier League and moved three points clear with a win against Newcastle on New Year’s Day.
Arsenal, meanwhile, suffered back-to-back defeats at Fulham despite dropping to fourth with Bukayo Saka at the helm.But both sides will take confidence from their last meeting at Anfield last month.
Widely regarded as a graveyard of Gunners results in recent years, Mikel Arteta’s side earned a point to keep them top of the table this Christmas on Merseyside.
However, with many players missing from AFCON and the Asian Cup, it will be a bit different for both sides and Merson believes this will have an impact on the match.
He told Sportskeeda: “Everybody rests their players for cup games, but when the top six teams play against each other, it can be a different story. Liverpool will be without Mohamed Salah and Endo Wataru this time and this would be a huge win.
Salah is on another level and this is a big role to fill, but Diogo Jota is a decent player and should fill the right wing role without the Egyptian.”Egypt have a good squad and should top the AFCON, which means Salah could play for Liverpool for four or five weeks.”
Since it’s a cup competition, it’s not a game to worry too much about. But Liverpool have important games against Bournemouth, Chelsea and Arsenal in the Premier League, after which Salah’s absence will really be felt.
“The Reds also have a Carabao Cup semi-final against Fulham ahead of them so they are unlikely to use all their key players for that game.” “Arsenal will play Liverpool at home without Salah, so I think they will win.” this”.
Merson’s prediction: Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool
