Granit Xhaka confident Arsenal can end Anfield hoodoo vs Liverpool

Granit Xhaka believes Arsenal can go to Anfield and get the win they need to keep the title out of Manchester City’s hands. Because for all the euphoria at the club right now, that could be the stark consequence of failing to beat Liverpool. It’s still much closer than many people think.

At first glance, the maths at the top of the table look beguilingly straightforward. Even when Manchester City performed their own demolition of Liverpool on Saturday at lunchtime, it merely reduced the gap to five points.

Those certainly looked comfortable enough by five o’clock, when Arsenal had mirrored the 4-1 advantage to restore the eight-point cushion. Hearing that statement win from the Etihad just before kick-off was supposed to be the sort of pressure test to make Arsenal’s unexpected climb to the top implode and eight seconds into their match Leeds were already through on goal.

Bukayo Saka was given a long-deserved rest after 52 consecutive Premier League matches and a busy international week, and Arsenal were worse for it. Thankfully Gabriel Jesus earned and converted a penalty against the run of play just before half-time.

By the time he had added a second after the break, Ben White’s name had already appeared as a much more surprising entry on the scoresheet and Jesus was back in proverbial cotton wool by the time Xhaka wrapped up the scoring with a strong header from Martin Odegaard’s sublime cross.

So what happened to that so-called pressure from Manchester? “If I am honest, we are looking at ourselves,” Xhaka said. “We have everything in our hands – nine games to go now. Let’s say five points over City – or eight now we have played one game more.

“It is most important what happens in the team, not what anybody else does. It was not always easy or open. Teams are playing against us now very deep, waiting for our mistakes and counter-attacking.

“We know that when we score the first goal that maybe they have to open the game a bit more and in the second half they did that. The first half we had to fight more.” This, though, is where all that mathematics starts to creep in. City will keep that game-in-hand up their sleeve for another month, disguising the fact that the gap could really be as little as five points.

If Arsenal fail to beat Liverpool on Sunday, the gap narrows again and because Arsenal travel to the Etihad on Wednesday April 26, it means if Manchester City win all the rest of their games, there is nothing the Gunners can do to catch them. Certainly, Liverpool is not the place Arsenal want to be playing their make-or-break game of the season.

It is a decade since they won there and two seasons ago, despite Arteta making his players train to the strains of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ over a rigged-up speaker system, they were thrashed 4-0. Xhaka insists though that Arsenal are a different side now.

“It does not matter how their season is going – they are always a dangerous team and, at Anfield, a very difficult team to play,” he said. “But we have confidence enough to win there as well. This is what we will try to do. That’s why we are going there so let’s see if we can bring the three points back.”