Liverpool vs. Arsenal: Team news, referee, TV information & more

May 10, 2025
Sam Millne

It seems fitting that Liverpool’s first home game as Premier League champions will be against Arsenal, the team who have been the Reds’ closest challengers this season.

Liverpool vs. Arsenal

Premier League (36) | Anfield
May 11, 2025 | 4.30pm (BST)

Around Christmas time, fans looking at the fixture list might have expected this game between the top two to be a title decider.

Thankfully, for Liverpool, it will instead act as just another date on a month-long calendar of Premier League title-winning parties.

That isn’t to say, though, that there won’t be pride at stake among two teams that have been well matched in recent meetings.

1. Guard of honour

Like against Chelsea, Arsenal will have to give Liverpool a guard of honour before the match, something supporters will revel in.

Virgil van Dijk will feel 10 feet tall as he strides out into the Anfield arena, subjecting his opponents to clap and acknowledge his team’s achievements this year.

Hopefully, Liverpool’s superiority will continue once the whistle is blown and allow them to assert their authority over their closest rivals this campaign.

2. Conor Bradley to start

While it is difficult to predict how Liverpool will lineup for their remaining games, we can be sure that Conor Bradley will start against Arsenal, should he be fit.

Slot said: “I think if Conor would have been available for Chelsea, he would have started already. But he wasn’t, so there’s a fair chance that he (Conor) will start.”

Later, he effectively again confirmed his place in the starting XI, adding: “I already said Conor is going to start because I think he needs playing time, to get games under his belt to be better prepared for next season.”

3. Team news

Slot made six changes from the Tottenham win to the match against Chelsea. This weekend, he could make as many as seven as he potentially reverts to a side closer to his first choice.

“Team selection is as it has been. It’s going to be the same thought process going through my mind for the Sunday game,” the head coach explained.

Slot continued: “I think there are a lot of influences on the decision I make and one of them is also losing a game of football, so not looking forward to lose all four of them.

“But there are more things going into a lineup than only losing or only rotating, giving the chance to other players.”

Joe Gomez remains Liverpool’s only injury absentee.

4. Arsenal’s forlorn quest for silverware

• READ HERE: Arteta has made another bizarre Liverpool title claim that is completely false

Four defeats across four legs of the League Cup and Champions League semi-finals, to Newcastle and Paris Saint-Germain respectively, have left Mikel Arteta on the defensive in recent interviews.

Despite his claims that they would have won the league with their points tally in the previous two seasons – something that isn’t true as we debunked here – they have been comprehensively beaten by a Liverpool team that weren’t favourites at the season’s start.

While injuries have made success more difficult, Arteta has been building a squad for five years in north London, and he could face pressure if his team go another year without silverware.

This weekend, they will be without Gabriel, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus.

5. Mikel Arteta’s latest strange comments

The Arsenal manager has made some strange comments in recent weeks, often attempting to defend his team’s failures.

Ahead of the Liverpool match, he has again given a bizarre press conference, claiming “there are two words, success and failure, that are not part of” his vocabulary.

Speaking about his side’s 2-1 defeat in Paris, he said: “It’s not about the winning probability or what you’ve merited, it’s actually making it happen and making it count.

“When you look at the important stats that normally give you the best platform to win football matches, it’s crystal clear who was better.”

You know what other stat is useful, Mikel? The score.

6. Mo Salah could break Premier League era record

One more goal or assist for Mo Salah would see him equal the Premier League era record of most goal involvements in a season – emulating the 47 for Andy Cole in 1993/94 and Alan Shearer the following season – they had 42 games to do it in, too!

The Egyptian is also just one assist away from equalling the Premier League era record for most assists in a season. He has 19, with only Thierry Henry (2002/03) and Kevin De Bruyne (2019/20) both with 20, having more in a single campaign.

One goal for Salah would see him equal Roberto Firmino’s club record of 11 league goals for Liverpool against Arsenal.

7. What reception might Trent Alexander-Arnold receive?

While supporters already knew Trent Alexander-Arnold would be likely to leave this summer, now that his departure has been confirmed, it is hard to predict how Anfield will react.

Away at Leicester, some fans booed when he came on, before the No. 66 struck the winner at the King Power Stadium.

At home, it would be unlikely for him to be subject to abuse from the whole ground – the majority would probably stay silent – but there could certainly be a section of fans who would let their frustration be known.

The easiest way to avoid all this would be for Alexander-Arnold to simply be left out of the squad.