Premier League Big Match Focus: How to back a 9/1 Bet Builder in Liverpool v Arsenal

• Gunners seeking a double

• Reds impenetrable at home

• Trossard chasing second hat-trick

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Premier League leaders Arsenal face one of their biggest remaining tests this weekend as they travel to Anfield to face Liverpool.

Jürgen Klopp's hosts are winless in three, having recorded a goalless draw at Chelsea in midweek after successive away defeats. They are much stronger at home, though, having lost just one league game in front of their own fans in the last two calendar years.

Arsenal sit eight points clear at the top after beating Leeds on Saturday, though Manchester City in second still have a game in hand. The Gunners will be playing after their rivals for a second straight week after the international break, with City away to struggling Southampton on Saturday evening.

Seven in sight

Liverpool have won their last six home league games against Arsenal and may well fancy their chances of a seventh despite their opponents' form. Those wins come with an aggregate scoreline of 22-4 to the Reds, and include a 4-0 win last season with four different scorers.

Just five members of the Arsenal XI from that day look set to start, though, with Thomas Partey likely to be the only midfielder to begin both games. The likes of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko have been influential since making summer moves from Manchester City, with the Brazil striker on target last time out.

Another man looking to make his mark is Leandro Trossard, who already has a hat-trick for Brighton at Anfield this season. No player has ever scored two hat-tricks for visiting sides at the stadium in one season, but two - including ex-Spurs striker Robbie Keane - have done so for Liverpool and an opponent over the course of one campaign.

Something's got to give

Arsenal responded to their defeat at home to Manchester City in February by winning seven on the spin in the league, but this weekend's game is arguably their toughest task since. Liverpool have gone seven hours and 26 minutes since they last conceded a home league goal, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall netting an early Leicester goal on December 30.

For those keeping track, that means no opponent has scored at Anfield in the league in 2023. In four games, Klopp's team have taken 10 points and scored 11 unanswered goals.

If the visitors are prevail, it could come down to the battle between Mohamed Salah and Aaron Ramsdale. The visiting goalkeeper needs just two more away clean sheets to match the Premier League record of 11 in one season, set by former Arsenal man Petr Čech during his Chelsea days and matched more recently by Manchester City man Ederson.

Salah, meanwhile, has eight goals and four assists in 12 league appearances against Arsenal, including one in his first league meeting with the Gunners during his Chelsea days. The Egyptian has just two in his last six games against them, though, and none in his last two - a 34-minute run-out from the bench last term and a start in the defeat at the Emirates Stadium earlier this season.

Liverpool v Arsenal prediction

Arsenal have sat top of the league ahead of a game with Liverpool on eight occasions, with those meetings averaging a huge 4.1 goals. The Invincibles twice came from behind to win 4-2 at Highbury on April 9, 2004 - with Sunday's clash coming 19 years to the day after that clash - but it hasn't always been plain sailing with a 5-1 hammering at Anfield seeing the Gunners surrender top spot in February 2014.

Mikel Arteta scored the Arsenal goal that day, and the Spaniard now has a chance to deliver a first league double over the Merseyside club since winners from Andrey Arshavin and Abou Diaby gave Arsenal six points back in 2009-10. Arteta was on Everton's books that season, but his team failed to take a point or even score a goal in their meetings with Liverpool that season.

There's a £2 free bet builder on any Premier League game this weekend, and we have our eye on goals

While Arsenal's front three isn't set in stone, Bukayo Saka is as close as possible to a must-pick while Trossard has had plenty of joy at Anfield already this term. More than 3.5 goals with Salah to score and Saka and Trossard to each have one or more shot on target can be backed at 10.2