arsenal vs Liverpool

head to head Arsenal wil win it

Not a bad draw but Id rather we were at home in the 1st leg. It'll be tough but I expect us to win easy

I think this will be a classic match-up, one not to be missed. Liverpool has proven they know what it takes to play on those CL evenings. Arsenal has shown the same this season and while I do think the Gunners can pull it off, in no way would I say this will be easy for either side. I'm looking forward to seeing two of the best midfielders in the world come together, Gerrard always takes it to the next level in this tournament and Cesc is the 'straw that stirs the drink' for the Gunners......

wow ...is that really you Oranje ....nice to hear from you again ..... i dont think we could have had it much better ....quite happy with Liverpool .......we didnt want Man Utd or Barcelona . Hopefully we can continue our recent run of succes against them .....

Yes it is me, good to see you are still posting for 'the good guys'.... I agree Man U and Barca would not have been ideal, but still not convinced that Liverpool will be a 'walk in the park'.... They come alive on the cool European nights of the CL, and I'll surprised to get nothing less from them.......

I think they are going to be two real close games and who ever is victorious goes on to Win the Champions League Final!!!

With van Persie back and our Midfield playing the way they are, I can only see us beating Liverpool.

Liverpool will play a more defensive game than us and if our Midfield dominates then we should play comfortably. Like Milan they will resort to counter-attacks and try to use the pace of Torres, Babel and long strides of Gerrard - however, players like that very rarely threaten us. Crouch will be more of a threat than any of them (which has proven true in the more recent meetings) and he probably won't play.

I'm more confident of getting past Liverpool. I wasn't sure about Milan before the 1st game, but I'm confident we can get past Liverpool. Even though Rafa is a great technician and can chess these type of cup games, but I feel we have the right balance to beat Liverpool providing things are fair and we play well.

Of course that's a biased outlook. Either way, it should be a great tie.

I may ask to borrow your crystal ball sometime, I hope you'll let me use it....... I hope you are right!

Difficult to call to be honest, rather have the Pool than Chels or Manu though.

I would like to play against Roma, but that's ok.

It'll be tough, but I believe in Arsenal.

It might be biased J, but I agree with all of it!

I believe that Arsenal will control possession, despite Liverpool having a world class central midfield of Mascherano, Alonso and Gerrard. Liverpool will look to soak up Arsenal's possession and counter quickly with pace from the likes of Babbel, Gerrard and Torres as the key to their success. But Arsenal's defence is packed to the rafters with speed: Gallas, Toure, Sagna and Clichy are all very quick so they'd fancy their chances of containing Liverpool's attacking threat. I also agree that Crouch's height could be the key to Liverpool posing a few problems.

Ultimately I see Arsenal winning the tie - but to do it they've got to pass the ball quickly through Liverpool's midfield to get at their defence. The likes of Mascherano and Alonso are excellent at denying the opposition time and space on the ball but with Fabregas' vision and the movement of the two forwards dovetailed with the energy and selfless running of Hleb, I can see them making inroads into the Liverpool back four.

This is going to be a fascinating match in all honesty and I can't wait. Arsenal will probably start as narrow favourites but Liverpool have the experience and they've got the second leg at home. I just hope the game gets a good referee who doesn't spoil the contest handing out cards like it's Christmas.

I agree with most of that Axe. Liverpool's main game plan might be to play defensively and counter-attack, similar to that of Milan. But as Johaldo said, our defence has some very quick players and babel and Gerrard won't get that much time on the ball.

The main thing in this tie is the midfield i think. The team who controls the midfield will be with the higher possibility of progressing. Also i don't predict a high goal scoring tie. A win for Arsenal at the Emirates, (2-0,2-1) and a draw at Anfield(1-1 or 0-0). But the main problem for Arsenal will be the run up of games around this tie. We face Chelsea befor the tie, Liverpool again between the 2 legs and ManU at OT immediately after the 2nd leg. That will be the main problem for Arsenal and Wenger has to motivate the players enough and the players should have high level of fitness to provide a high level of work-rate game in game out for about 2 weeks. Very tough indeed but his will be the definitive period of our season.

Hoping for a comfortable Arsenal win at Emirates which almost shuts the door for Liverpool for a comeback at Anfield.

Oranjeplazza, nice to see you back. Where have you been?

Only if we win. No, seriously - because otherwise we won't shut your team of graceless egotists up.

This is the one game i didn't want and i said before i thought we'd get it - Arsenal's style tends to do us in and we struggle to live with them. But the Champions League should be tighter than some of the Premier League matches of late i'd hope. Both teams will go into it with a little bit of caution.

It gives me a little bit of confidence that earlier in the season Arsenal only managed to break us down by Alonso being taken off injured, and us having to put Arbeloa (a full-back) in his position. But Arsenal will go in as favourites for me, domestically each teams' records speaks for itself... Then again, we thrive on being the underdogs.

Personally i think it'll largely hinge on the first leg. Both teams are excellent at their respective stadiums and Arsenal will have to do a job at the Emirates i feel, whilst we'll have to still be in the tie after the first set of 90 minutes. I'd take a 2-1, 1-0, 3-2 back to Anfield - leaving us needing to win 1-0 at Anfield. That's the only real way i can see us going through... Okay i'd take 180 minutes of 0-0 and us going through on penalties, but there you go.

Whatever happens, whoever goes through has to beat Chelsea, who have no right to be cast amongst the elite names of European Cup winners (but then you can happily crash and burn against Barcelona in the final ).

Oh, and i've seen a couple of people mention Arsenal's tough run-in. Well, we have something very similar:

23 Mar: Manchester United (A)
30 Mar: Everton (H)
02 Apr: Arsenal (A)
06 Apr: Arsenal (A)
08 Apr: Arsenal (H)

...Which comedy genius scheduled this season's fixture lists??

I dont think that is biased J-Axe, i agree with most of this. Like ben i too really did not want to come up against Arsenal at this stage. They were the main team i wanted to avoid followed by United. Anyone else would have been fine but i think we will struggle against an Arsenal team who play with such flowing, quick movement. Of course, i believe we can beat them, this is the Champions League, very different from the league. Rafa knows this competition expertly.

But Arsenal have all the credentials to beat us. They have a quick defence, which should equal our attacking line. They have a very good front line, equipt with very good runners from midfield. This is what i think can cause us problems. Our back line is getting on a bit and is not the quickest. I think players such as Hleb will have a lot of joy moving in and around our defence. That is what Inter did to us for the first half the other day and they looked very dangerous. I expect Arsenal to do this to a better standard than Milan so Mascherano needs to carry on his good form this season and have a brilliant game.

Like others, i think Crouch could be the difference for us. I do think when they have played together (all be it not often) Torres and Crouch play well together so it will be interesting to see what team Rafa goes with. I can see Arsenal dominating the majority of possesion with us looking to wear them down and hit them on the break.

Yeah, that quite tough too... Especially the ManU and Everton matches as they'll be like a decider for the 4th spot in the league. If you guys lose both, then getting the 4th spot will be tough. But Everton too have some tough run of matches i think, but they only have the league to concentrate which play as an advantage for them.

Also, what you said earlier about Arsenal winning at the Emirates, I accept that. Arsenal have to keep a clean sheet or if you guys score, a 2-goal difference before going to Anfield. Or else, it'll be a lot tougher at Anfield.

lol..

is there also a possibility to come up with same aggregate and end up with penalty decision then?..

i can't decide anything but a tough draw.. both goals to be scored in the second half..

Hopefully Arsenal will win.
Cesc to be the man of the 2 matches.

*Ahem*

What happened to you liking Liverpool?

And if you say you've switched to Arsenal you're a gloryboy... Especially as a Real fan supporting a Barcelona product in Fabregas!