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Mikel Arteta will warn his Arsenal players to prepare for the best of Liverpool on Monday night when they take on the Premier League champions at Anfield.
While the Gunners haven’t won in Liverpool since 2012, they have beaten the Reds in their previous two meetings.
Alexandre Lacazette and Reiss Nelson pounced on rare mistakes to win the league 2-1 in July before a penalty shootout victory ensured Community Shield’s success at the expense of Jurgen Klopp’s team.
The two sides will now meet twice in four days and their Carabao Cup fourth round clash will be on Thursday night.
Arteta has told his team that they must prepare for the hosts to be at their best if Arsenal are to record a rare victory in Merseyside.
“Never give up, that’s crucial against them,” Arteta replied when asked about the challenge of beating Liverpool.
“And you have to hope they are at their best. If you always expect that, then the level of attention is higher, the focus is higher and then you are more determined on each ball. Against them, that’s key.
“I don’t see any complacency (in the Liverpool players). They go anywhere, even when they are 2-0 up, 3-0 up, 4-0 up, and they still go the same way.
“It is an incredible credit to the coaching staff, the culture they have created and the spirit of that team. You can see that in the 24 or 26 players they have on the squad.
“There is not a player who is not very interested or who only plays moments in the game. He just tries, every minute of every game.
“Throughout the season, doing that for 10 months, I think it’s a huge compliment.”
Arteta is likely to remember the summer transfers of Gabriel Magalhaes and Willian at Anfield, having made seven changes for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win in Leicester.
It remains to be seen if more reinforcements will be added to the Arsenal squad before the transfer window closes on October 5.
The club has wanted to add an additional central midfielder and has been strongly linked with Thomas Partey of Atlético de Madrid and Houssem Aouar of Lyon.
While Partey has a waiver clause and could still make the move if Lucas Torreira takes the opposite direction in a separate deal, Lyon President Jean-Michel Aulas has poured cold water on reports that a deal with Aouar was close to completion.
“In Lyon there will be very few starts: for Houssem, Arsenal is too far from his value: we are counting on him to put on a great game in Lorient and lead OL in the Champions League next year,” he wrote on Twitter.
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