Arsenal and Liverpool is a mouthwatering match-up. Source: AFP
ARSENAL host Liverpool in a mouth-watering Premier League contest on Sunday, 4.25am (EDT) on Fox Sports 1 HD.
It's a battle between two teams desperate to sustain their start to the season, and to prove their worth in big matches like these.
It's one of the great match-ups on the football calendar, and we've headed to the terraces for a different point of view on the contest.
At home, in Arsene Wenger's corner, is Tony Harper, News Corp Australia/Fox Sports National Digital Editor. Vouching for Brendan Rodgers's boys is Brenton Speed, Fox Sports football commentator.
We're looking to use football Super Fans to be a part of our big game debates, and to contribute via videos from A-League matches. If you want to be a part of it, email tony.harper@foxports.com.au (and tell us which team you support).
WHY YOU'LL WIN ON THE WEEKEND
HARPER: I don't think we will. The wear and tear is starting to show – this will be Arsenal's 16th game of the season to Liverpool's 11th with a squad built for pretty, fair weather football, not a blood and thunder battle. If Arsenal can learn from their naivete against Dortmund, a fighting draw would be a good start to a defining November stretch.
SPEED: We were 2-nil up at the Emirates in January, with Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge too hot to handle, and now those two return much higher in confidence, plus Philippe Coutinho is ready to go after injury, so good luck containing that trio. If they score 2 we'll score 3.
GIROUD V SUAREZ
HARPER: No question – even Arsene Wenger tried to buy Suarez to replace, or complement if you're being kind, Giroud. That said Giroud has been great this season, giving central defenders a fight, scoring some clinical goals and providing some sweet assists – none better than the final pass in the Wilshere stunner against Norwich. Swap them? Maybe. But you'd rather have both!
SPEED: A lot to like about Giroud's form this season – must be happy in the knowledge he'll definitely never have to share an attacking third with Chamakh again! But Suarez is a cut above, coming off a hat-trick against the Baggies against the notoriously loose and tardy Arsenal back 4… look out!!
BEAUTIFUL FOOTBALL - WENGER V RODGERS
HARPER: Wenger wins the beauty contest against all but a few teams – Barca, Dortmund, Bayern? Does that matter though? Failing to win anything in eight years is one thing but if they did it playing like Stoke under Tony Pulis it would be a helluva lot harder to get up at 1am on a Sunday morning. Albert Camus (a goalkeeper, mind you) reckons, "Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time." But if beauty is unbearable, what the hell is Ryan Shawcross?
SPEED: Arsene has taken a decade and a half to finally produce that goal he craves with Wilshere the other week, while less than a year-and-a-half into his spell at Anfield, Rodgers has the Reds purring along already. Winner!
HOW LONG WILL THE TITLE CHARGE LAST?
HARPER: We'll know a lot more in a month. Liverpool, Man United, and then Southampton in the league, with Dortmund soaking up our energy in the Champions league. We don't need to win them all but we can't lose them all. If we're intact with 4-5 points from that run we'll have hope. My fear – as with any Arsenal fan – is that we have gone in light on squad players.
SPEED: As long as we keep Joe Allen in the stands. Told everyone who'd listen last year the Welshman was costing us crucial points at this stage of the season, and now after his 11 combined minutes in the new campaign we are flying high. If Suarez and Sturridge can start atleast another 20-25 games this season as a combination we'll be there when the whips are cracking.
WHAT MADE YOU FALL IN LOVE ...
HARPER: Ian Wright, Wright, Wright. I was an Arsenal fan before my first trip to the North Bank, Highbury in 1993 but Ian Wright burst through against Everton juggled once, juggled two and then looped Cupid's arrow over Neville Southall. From flirtation to love affair right there.
SPEED: Let's put it this way, the moment I love does not involve Arshavin… the moment I love to reflect on is 2001 FA Cup final!! The look on Michael Owen's face after his second goal in the last 10 minutes is pure gold, and for mine encapsulates what it must feel like to live out a boyhood dream and score the winner in a Cup final.
YOUR FAVOURITE GAME
HARPER: I saw some great wins, a gut wrenching defeat or two buy my favourite is unlikely to be shared by anyone else. A rubbish game, a 1-0 win over Wolves decided by a 94th minute Nick Bendtner goal, and at Emirates not Highbury. But it was the first time and only times I've seen the Arsenal with my sons. It's not always about beautiful football.
SPEED: The first taste I got live was the Carling Cup final in Cardiff in 2003 when we beat Man U, so that will live on forever, but nothing beats being in Istanbul in 2005 for the UEFA Champions League final against AC Milan! I took a video from the stands of Xabi Alonso's penalty to bring it back to 3-3 - it actually which sums it all up. Best 600 quid I ever spent in my time in London to get return charter flight to Turkey. YNWA.
01 Nov, 2013
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Source: http://www.news.com.au/national/two-fans-go-head-to-head-ahead-of-arsenal-and-liverpools-crunch-match-in-the-premier-league/story-e6frfkp9-1226751288837?from=public_rss
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