Surely the standout fixture of the Premier League’s twelfth round – Liverpool are favourites on paper, however not one manager in the league knows what to expect from the resurrecting Arsenal squad. Anfield welcomes the Gunners this evening as both teams have something to chase after – visitors want to stay in the upper section of the table and participate in European football next year while the hosts need to keep up after Chelsea who were successful earlier today.Just one place and two points separate the two sides in the table, with Liverpool sitting fourth and Arsenal fifth after 11 games of the campaign.However, on Saturday evening in gameweek 12, Arsenal have the chance to leapfrog Liverpool in the table, something no one would expect after an abysmal start of the campaign.On November 7, Liverpool recorded their first league defeat of the season – a 3-2 loss to West Ham United ended their 20-game unbeaten streak in the top flight, and a 25-game undefeated run across all competitions which stretched back to April. Preceding the West Ham defeat, the 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion which was also a major blow for Jurgen Klopp’s side.Kante’s wonder goal tops the brilliant Chelsea display against LeicesterLuckily, they have already secured top spot in a difficult Champions League group which means that they can pay Saturday’s showdown their full attention – an immediate return to winning ways is imperative for Liverpool in the Premier League.An interesting piece of trivia that possibly frightens Reds’ supporters – Liverpool’s last three league defeats have now come against London clubs. Something that could boost Arsenal’s confidence even more.Regardless, Gunners’ confidence grew gradually during their current eight game unbeaten streak (W6, D2) – the longest of all Premier League clubs and you have to go back to August to December 2018 to find the last time they embarked on a longer top-flight run without defeat.Mikel Arteta’s side have kept seven clean sheets in that time too, including three in a row before the break.Arsenal are now back into the top-four race and despite still only having a goal difference of 0 (20 worse than Liverpool) – a victory later today would be enough to lift Gunners into the Champions League places.Gunners’ Arsenal left back Nuno Tavares, even though new to English football and to facing some of the best names in the sport week in and week out, shows no fear ahead of the match in which he will have one of the hardest tasks in today’s football – guarding and marking Mohamed Salah.New-look back four is giving Arsenal forwards a platform from which to attack: We love to defend!The Portuguese signed from Benfica in the summer has made seven Premier League appearances so far – the 21-year-old has played the full 90 minutes in Arsenal’s last three games, which they’ve won all three, and has impressed amid their good run.“This game is big for us. We go to Anfield to try to win the game. That’s it,” Tavares told talkSPORT.“Why top three and not top one? I told you we are Arsenal, so we want to win the league. For us it is top one.“In the beginning we didn’t do well, at the beginning of the season. But now we are good and people need to understand we are Arsenal. We need to win games to achieve our objective.“I don’t know why people are so shocked about Arsenal. We are a big club and have good players.“I don’t know why people are surprised about that. For us it is normal and simple to win games.“We are in top five, for us we want to achieve top one. I don’t know why people are surprised with that.”When talking about Liverpool’s star man Salah and the upcoming duels against him, Tavares still focuses on the quality of his teammates and their chances of competing against the best. Maybe even fighting for the title.“Salah, if I play, will play against me. I don’t have a problem with anyone. I play for Arsenal. We have a good team and Liverpool have a good team as well to fight on the pitch”, he said. When asked if Salah will have a problem with him, Tavares said: “I don’t think so. Salah won’t know who I am.”When put to him that maybe he will know who he is after Saturday, he added: Maybe. I don’t know, I am young.”Arsenal’s record against Liverpool in recent seasons might be the main concern this weekend – Liverpool have lost just one of their 11 Premier League meetings with Arsenal since Klopp took charge, winning seven of those.##EDITORS_CHOICE##On matchday three Gunners were humiliated by Man City however Arteta’s side now look like a much more organised outfit than the one – this weekend’s trip to Anfield will give them the perfect opportunity to show just how far they have come in the meantime.A massive concern for Klopp & Co is a torrid international break as key men Jordan Henderson, Andrew Robertson and Sadio Mane all picked up injuries for their national teams. Potentially, Liverpool will be without at least six first-team players.Klopp has confirmed that Mane will be fit for Arsenal’s visit, Robertson is also expected to be in contention, but Henderson is a bigger doubt and will be assessed before the match starts.Divock Origi suffered a dead leg for Belgium but could also recover in time, although Saturday’s match will come too soon for Roberto Firmino, Joe Gomez, James Milner, Naby Keita, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott, all of whom remain sidelined through injury.Arsenal have been handed a major boost with the news that Thomas Partey should be fit for selection, Folarin Balogun is also available – leaving Granit Xhaka and Sead Kolasinac as the only players missing for Arteta.The Spaniard is unlikely to make many changes to his starting eleven from the win over Watford last time out, which means starts again for both Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, while the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Bernd Leno, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli may have to settle for a place on the bench once more.The Gunners do have the weapons to hurt a Liverpool defence which looked a little shaky before the international break, but the hosts are hungry to return to winning ways – particularly as their injury troubles do not look quite as bad as first feared.PREMIER LEAGUE – Round 12SaturdayLeicester – Chelsea 0-3 (0-2)/Rudiger 14. Kante 28. Pulisic 71/18.00: (2.55) Aston Villa (3.10) Brighton (3.20)18.00: (2.80) Burnley (3.00) Crystal Palace (2.95)18.00: (3.60) Norwich (3.40) Southampton (2.20)18.00: (2.70) Newcastle (3.25) Brentford (2.85)18.00: (6.50) Watford (4.40) Man.Utd. (1.55)18.00: (3.05) Wolverhampton (3.25) West Ham (2.55)20.30: (1.53) Liverpool (4.40) Arsenal (6.75)Sunday17.00: (1.25) Man.City (6.75) Everton (13.0)19.30: (1.75) Tottenham (3.70) Leeds (5.40)***odds are subject to change
