A guard of honour from Arsenal awaits Liverpool this weekend, but how content are Gunners supporters with life under Mikel Arteta?
The Reds looked under-cooked in their 3-1 defeat at Chelsea – wholly understandable, considering the Premier League title has been wrapped up.
Next up for Arne Slot‘s champions is Sunday’s visit of rivals Arsenal, who were dumped out of the Champions League on Wednesday.
Ahead of the game, we spoke to Gunners fans and award-winning illustrator Matty Long (@Matty_Long) to discuss a frustrating season, the weekend meeting and more.
How would you assess another trophyless season for Arsenal?
This answer was always going to be dependent on the Champions League, and since we’ve now exited the competition, it is hard to see this season as anything other than very disappointing.
The Premier League has been a hard watch and domestic cup runs never really got going.
Our Champions League form was mostly excellent, but we were outgunned by a team with a bigger squad and more quality in both boxes when it mattered.
Is Arteta still very much the right man for the job?
Absolutely, but there is room for improvement. This season was doomed from the start when we failed to augment the attack in any meaningful way.
Raheem Sterling on loan on the final day was pathetic.
Mikel Arteta pushed for Riccardo Calafiori and it makes you wonder why when we already had Oleksandr Zinchenko with Myles Lewis-Skelly waiting to break out.
Not prioritising the attack was foolish and we paid the price with multiple long-term injuries across the frontline.
Arteta also needs to learn to make substitutions a bit earlier and throw caution to the wind when we really need to.
The best managers have to jazz it at times and he needs to get more comfortable with that.
Who have been Arsenal’s three best players? Who has struggled?
I’d look to David Raya, Gabriel, and Jurrien Timber as our three best performers, with an honourable mention to Declan Rice.
Our captain, Martin Odegaard, has had a season to forget.
I’m not convinced he has really recovered from the ankle injury he sustained earlier in the season, and becoming a father for the first time might have played a role in his form, too.
It’s a shame, because you can’t fault his effort, but he just hasn’t been anywhere near his best.
He will know that more than anyone, though, and I think he will bounce back.
How do you assess Liverpool’s season? Worthy champions?
Liverpool are worthy winners, no complaints. They just kept grinding out wins when they had to.
They kept key players fit and had Mo Salah in the form of his life.
It was a mercy when they won it because then Arsenal fans didn’t have to hear from the media every week about how we had dropped points in a title race we were never really in.
We just happened to be the next closest team.
Given how Liverpool strolled the league and never looked like losing it, I do wonder if they could have done a bit better in the cups.
If you could take one Liverpool player at Arsenal, who would it be?
Probably Cody Gakpo, given our lack of goals.
I’m also drawn to Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, too. They seem pretty great.
I could get very used to watching us score screamers from midfield. Or indeed, any kind of goal.
Looking ahead to Sunday, where are the key battles?
This is a weird game, let’s be honest. Neither team really has anything to play for.
Trying to motivate a team to play for second place in the Premier League after a galling Champions League semi-final exit is going to be challenging, to say the least.
Similarly, we all know Liverpool wouldn’t have lost to Chelsea last week if the points still mattered.
The only key battle is who can be arsed with this charade of a contest!
Finally, prediction time…
I imagine Liverpool will have now shaken off their hangovers, while we will still be recovering physically and mentally from Paris on Wednesday.
And from a long, gruelling Premier League season that I (and quite possibly the team) mentally checked out of in January.
Liverpool 2-0 Arsenal.
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