Liverpool team head into their final game of 2018 with a six-point lead at the top of the table having won 16 and lost none of their opening 19 fixtures. They beat Newcastle 4-0 on Boxing Day while Man City suffered their second straight loss. Salah rediscovered form and Jurgen Klopp's men have netted 14 goals in their last five across competitions. The last time the Reds didn't win in Premier League was when they drew the reverse fixture against City 1-1 last month. The last two meetings between Liverpool and Arsenal have both resulted in draws. Anyway, the Reds have bagged comfortable wins in both of the sides’ last two head-to-head clashes at this ground.
Jurgen Klopp may switch back to a 4-3-3 for the visit of free-scoring Arsenal. James Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum could be joined by Fabinho in the central midfield three while James Milner remains out after missing the Newcastle match last time out. Naby Keita and Adam Lallana provide further options in the engine room. Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino having started in all of the meetings against the "big six" sides this season and are expected to form the front trio, altough Xherdan Shaqiri is the in-form man. The back four are set to remain unchanged given the magnitude of the fixture.
Arsenal team ended their disappointing two-match losing streak – 3:2 to Southampton in the top flight and 0-2 against Tottenham (0-2) in the League Cup – with a 3-1 win over Burnley last week. Anyway, they failed to beat Brighton on the road on Boxing Day (1-1) and dropped out of the top four in the league standings. Anyway, they are only two points shy of Chelsea in fourth and they certainly have enough attacking talent to remain in the race for UCL qualification. The Gunners have only won one of their previous five league matches on the road and their lack of clean sheets (none away from home and just three in total) is a major concern.
Laurent Koscielny is unlikely to feature after being forced off last time out, joining Hector Bellerin, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Shkodran Mustafi and Nacho Monreal, Rob Holding, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Danny Welbeck and Emile Smith-Rowe on the sidelines. Ozil was hauled off at half-time against Brighton and will be benched, with Aaron Ramsey favourite to replace the German ebhind the front duo formed by Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The likes of Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira will anchor the midfield while Granit Xhaka could be required to play at the back.
Arsenal (3-4-1-2): Leno; Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Xhaka; Maitland-Niles, Kolasinac, Torreira, Guendouzi; Ramsey; Aubameyang, Lacazette.