5 reasons Liverpool will beat Arsenal on Friday
By David Gate
No. 5: Aaron Ramsey’s Absence
The Arsenal midfield were no match for Liverpool’s central three earlier in the season. Jordan Henderson and Emre Can were imperious in front of the back four. Gini Wijnaldum had his best game of the season; picking the holes through the Arsenal ranks.
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The one Arsenal player who showed some fight and ability that day was Aaron Ramsey. He didn’t have enough on his own to do any damage. His performance was cast a spotlight on the embarrassing efforts of Mesut Ozil and Granit Xhaka. The German vanished once again and Xhaka is behind the pace of most games let alone our rapid attack.
Aaron Ramsey will miss this game through injury; ruled out until January. In his place will be either Jack Wilshere or Mohamed Elneny. Neither can match Ramsey for effort or quality. In fact the only thing Liverpool need to worry about is themselves.
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The only way Liverpool lose this game is if we hand it to them. That, of course, is always a possibility with our defense as our visit to Wembley against Spurs proved. The Gunners’ midfield doesn’t stand a chance. Neither does their defense. To win we simply cannot hand chances to players like Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. They have too much quality. But Ramsey missing the game is a huge plus for the Reds