Adept at blowing their own horn, the English football commentariat has already talked up the last day of this weekend as Super Sunday. That is when last season’s first and second finishers, Liverpool and Arsenal, respectively, meet at Anfield to lay down an early marker.
Whoever is vanquished will immediately be under pressure, even though both teams have a perfect record after two games going into round three.
It’s going to be a fascinating game for the connoisseur.
Liverpool appear weak, unable to mount a defence, while on the other side, Arsenal are a more defensive team this term, even though they have just acquired the services of a striker, Viktor Gyökeres.
Even though Arsenal buried Leeds United 5-0 the last time out, they appear more primed towards preventing goals than scoring them, while Liverpool are so cavalier going forward, goals are guaranteed for and against. This will make for a balanced encounter.
Against Leeds last Saturday evening, left-back Jurien Timber broke the stalemate only after 34 minutes. The West Yorkshire side had been giving as much as it got until then, and then imploded to ship in three more in the next 22 minutes.
On the other hand, Liverpool have also shipped in more goals to convince even the most hardened Red that their team is not champion material.
Can a wide-open Liverpool prevent a frugal Arsenal from finding the target? Impossible.
The more difficult question to answer is whether a tight Arsenal will give new Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike his third league goal in a row.
Arsenal will pack the back, opting to wander into the Liverpool half only sporadically. Upfront, their captain, Martin Ødegaard, and leading man, Bukayo Saka, have appeared off-colour, but that could be immaterial.
Both left the field injured last weekend, with the latter definitely not in the team to face Liverpool with a hamstring injury.
Mikel Arteta might decide that with Liverpool running around like headless chickens at the back, this is a good time to spring a surprise and swing for the fences.
Anyway, what the heck, let’s pick a winner: 3-1 to Liverpool.
