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“Doctor’s advice” is the reason given for Declan Rice’s absence. Mikel Arteta tells Sky Sports that the England international couldn’t train post-Paris and is not fit.
“The fact that he’s leaving is one of the reasons to play Conor [Bradley],” says Arne Slot on his decision to put Trent Alexander-Arnold on the bench.
A rare case, then, of those Sky pre-match interviews actually offering some genuine insight.
Full times in the early games:
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Manchester United 0-2 West Ham
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Nottingham Forest 2-2 Leicester
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Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Crystal Palace
United and Spurs continue to put all their chips in the Europa League final basket, while Forest spurn the opportunity to make up ground in the top five race.
It feels like the Liverpool bench today is rather telling. It contains Caoimhin Kelleher, Wataru Endo, Dawin Núñez and Trent Alexander-Arnold, all of whom are likely – or certain in the case of Alexander-Arnold – to leave the club in the summer.
It’s strange that the title winners find themselves in need of a reset, of sorts, but that’s the slightly odd situation facing Arne Slot this summer.
An absolute ridiculous El Clásico is currently going on. Five goals in 35 minutes?!
Follow it live here.
Let’s not forget Arsenal are going to give Liverpool, the new Premier League champions, a guard of honour today. It will really rankle with Mikel Arteta and everyone connected with the Gunners to do so, but Arteta graciously gave credit to Arne Slot’s side in his pre-match press conference:
They deserve that. They’ve been the best team, they’ve been the most consistent, and what Arne and the coaching staff have done has been fascinating, it’s been really good. They fully deserve it, and that’s the sport. If somebody’s better, you have to approve and accept and try to reach that level.
Scorelines to make fans of both Liverpool and Arsenal happy:
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Manchester United 0-2 West Ham
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Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Crystal Palace
That Europa League final should be an absolute doozy.
‘No Rice’ is trending on X and it’s unrelated to my Saturday night takeaway order. The reason for Declan Rice’s absence from the Arsenal matchday squad isn’t fully clear but it’s possible he’s being rested after his midweek exertions as the Gunners exited the Champions League against PSG.
How Mikel Arteta’s team cope without the influential midfielder is going to be interesting. There are two differing views on what Rice offers to this side: some say he’s the central lynchpin, others argue his influence is overstated. Let’s see who’s right – Arsenal are likely to come under plenty of pressure at an expectant Anfield today.
Team news
Liverpool: Alisson; Bradley, Konaté, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Jones, Szoboszlai, Salah, Gakpo, Díaz.
Subs: Kelleher, Endo, Núñez, Mac Allister, Elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, Alexander-Arnold, Quansah.
Arsenal: Raya; White, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly; Partey, Merino, Ødegaard; Trossard, Martinelli, Saka.
Subs: Neto, Tierney, Timber, Zinchenko, Sterling, Calafiori, Butler-Oyedeji, Henry-Francis, Nwaneri.
Preamble
What a shame for the neutrals this game doesn’t mean more. It’s a classic case of what might have been. A title decider? A ding-ding top-of-the-table clash? A titanic battle between first and second with echoes of 1989, Michael Thomas and all that?
Liverpool’s ruthless efficiency under Arne Slot and Arsenal’s many shortcomings, especially in the Premier League this season, mean it will be none of the above. It’s little more than two teams playing for pride, with the newly-crowned Reds – who will get a guard of honour from their nearest title ‘challengers – looking to put a marker down against the Gunners.
The gap at the summit could grow to a whopping 18 points by the end of the day, although the visitors will hope to cut it to 12 by praying – as Chelsea did last week – that Liverpool will be on the proverbial beach. Team news will drop in the next post; then we’ll get into the meat of the action. It’s a 4.30pm kick-off, UK time.
