Arsenal

Matthew Hobbs
BBC Sport journalist

One of the Premier League's biggest rivalries resumes this weekend when champions Liverpool host last season's runners-up Arsenal. BBC Sport takes a look at some of the key themes as the title rivals prepare to face off.

Will defenders decide this game?

This fixture has seen 78 goals scored in the past 20 games - the most of any Premier League encounter since the start of 2015-16 - but how both teams defend may prove the deciding factor at Anfield on Sunday.

Liverpool have scored in 98% of their games under Arne Slot (39/40) - the highest percentage by any manager in Premier League history. However, a revamped backline has looked increasingly vulnerable so far this season.

The Reds had let a two-goal lead slip against 10-man Newcastle on Monday night - until 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha won the game in the 10th minute of stoppage time, and in doing so became the second-youngest player to score on his Premier League debut.

Liverpool have conceded four goals from just six shots on target so far this season, suggesting they are giving up an uncharacteristic number of high-quality chances. Only Leeds have conceded more often per shot on target than Slot's men in 2025-26. It took Liverpool nine league games to concede four goals last term.

Arsenal's threat from corners

While Liverpool are bedding in new arrival Milos Kerkez, and have lost fellow summer signing Jeremie Frimpong to a hamstring injury, Arsenal's settled defence – founded on the formidable centre-half pairing of Gabriel and William Saliba – are yet to concede a goal in two Premier League matches.

The Gunners' rearguard effort at Old Trafford on the opening weekend was crucial to a 1-0 win against Manchester United.

Should Arsenal keep things tight at Anfield, a favoured weapon could be enough to settle the outcome. Mikel Arteta's side have scored 33 goals from corners since the start of 2023-24 - at least 10 more than any other side in the top five European leagues.

The Gunners have also scored from a corner in their past three games and will have done so in four for the first time if they do so again at Anfield.

And while much focus may be on the recruitment of marquee forwards Viktor Gyokeres and Hugo Ekitike, keep an eye out for Jurrien Timber. The Arsenal full-back has scored two goals and assisted three in his past five Premier League starts.

In the 5-0 win over Leeds, Timber became the first defender to score two goals and get an assist in a Premier League fixture in more than a decade.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Liverpool at Anfield (16:30 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Arteta offered a fitness update on Bukayo Saka who is "doing better" and will not require surgery but "will be out for a few weeks".

• Captain Martin Odegaard "hasn't trained yet" and "if he does it will be tomorrow" but is "doing everything he can to make himself available".

• Arteta also confirmed Christian Norgaard, Ben White and Leandro Trossard are all doubts for Sunday's match.

• On Kai Havertz who has undergone surgery on a knee issue: "I think it will be weeks, but hopefully not months. Very unfortunate and very sad. This is our profession and now we lose another player for many weeks."

• On new signing Eberechi Eze, who could make his Gunners debut at Anfield, Arteta said: "Very special energy, special aura around him and really willing. I heard a lot about him. He's gathered a lot of information on that pitch. Yes, very impressed with him."

• Asked could Eze start, Arteta said: "We have options in that position, so let's see and I'm not going to give you any clues obviously."

• On the challenge of facing the Reds at Anfield: "A very important one and we want to continue [their good start to the season]. We want to go to these stadiums with these types of atmospheres and come away with a win."

• He was not drawn into commenting on interest in Bayer Leverkusen's Piero Hincapie: "You know the answer - I cannot talk about players that are not part of the squad."

• Can he keep everyone happy with such a deep squad now? "The word is that I care. I care that everyone is as happy as possible - to make sure that every player feels that they're fulfilling their potential."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Alex Howell
Football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Elliot Anderson has received his first call-up to the senior England squad - reward for the 22-year-old's excellent displays since his move to Nottingham Forest.

Anderson was part of the England Under-21 side that retained the European Championship in Slovakia in the summer.

He was an important part of that team, with spectators and, importantly, FA staff remarking about how he played like a senior professional.

Anderson was named in team of the tournament and looks like he is going to be given his chance to cement his place as the third midfielder in Thomas Tuchel's side.

Nobody has been able to tie down the place next to Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham and, even though Bellingham is out for this window, Anderson can show the England manager what he might be able to bring to a World Cup side.

England boss Thomas Tuchel has selected his 24-man squad for the September World Cup qualifiers.

Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, James Trafford, Dean Henderson

Defenders: Reece James, Marc Guehi, John Stones, Dan Burn, Ezri Konsa, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Tino Livramento, Djed Spence

Midfielders: Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Jordan Henderson, Adam Wharton, Morgan Rogers, Declan Rice

Forwards: Harry Kane, Eberechi Eze, Jarrod Bowen, Anthony Gordon, Noni Madueke, Marcus Rashford, Ollie Watkins

Sami Mokbel
Senior football correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Porto and Arsenal are in talks over a move for Jakub Kiwior moving to Portugal, and Bayer Leverkusen's Piero Hincapie is viewed as a direct replacement for Kiwior in Mikel Arteta's squad.

There is interest in attacker Reiss Nelson, who has suitors from across Europe. Fulham have approached the Gunners over Nelson but are reluctant to sign the winger on a permanent deal or a loan with an obligation to buy.

Oleksandr Zinchenko, Albert Lokonga and Fabio Vieira – who has interest from Stuttgart - can also leave this month.

Arsenal are mindful of complying with Uefa's squad cost ratio regulations and want to ensure players are sold before executing their interest in Hincapie.

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Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Based on the average Uefa coefficient of their opponents, PSV Eindhoven have been handed the toughest draw in the league phase. Not only do they face the champions of England, Germany and Italy – Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Napoli – but they will also play two of the top three seeds from Pot 2 in Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid.

Manchester City and Liverpool have also been given a fairly tough gauntlet of games, with both sides drawn against 15-time winners Real Madrid. Pep Guardiola's side will also play Bayer Leverkusen and Napoli as well as two of the top seeds from Pot 4 in Galatasaray and Monaco. Arne Slot's side will play last year's finalists Inter and Atletico Madrid.

Atalanta will likely be the happiest club following the draw after being given the most favourable fixtures. While they do have to face champions Paris St-Germain and Club World Cup champions Chelsea, they were also drawn against the two lowest seeds in Pot 2 – Eintracht Frankfurt and Club Brugge – as well as two of the three lowest seeds in Pot 3 in Slavia Prague and Marseille.

Both north London clubs should also be fairly happy with the draw. While they do have to play Bayern Munich, Inter and Atletico Madrid, Arsenal were otherwise drawn against low-seeded teams in Pots 2, 3 and 4, including Celtic's Kazakh conquerors Kairat Almaty. Tottenham also received favourable draws in terms of opponents from Pots 2 and 3, avoiding the likes of Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid and Napoli.

Alex Howell
Arsenal reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The Champions League is the elite of European football so having tough matches is not a surprise.

However, the Gunners do have a tough league phase to contend with as they face Inter Milan away from home and Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid at home.

They faced Inter Milan in the league phase away from home last season and suffered their only loss before the knockout stage to Inter thanks to a Hakan Çalhanoglu penalty in added time of the first half.

The Gunners reached the semi-finals of the competition last season but were without a recognised striker as they beat Real Madrid before being beaten by Paris Saint-Germain in the last four.

Mikel Arteta has strengthened his squad so they have much more quality and depth this season and he will hope that is enough to take them another step further in the competition this season.

Arsenal's final pre-season game of this season was against Athletic Bilbao, a match they won comfortably. That will give them confidence and hope that they can replicate the result as they travel away to Bilbao for one of their eight league phase games.

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal's Champions League draw is complete and Mikel Arteta's side now know which eight clubs they will meet in the 36-team league format, which was used for the first time last season.

The Champions League fixture list with match dates and kick-off times will be published no later than Saturday, 30 August.

The Gunners will face:

• Bayern Munich (H)

• Inter Milan (A)

• Atletico Madrid (H)

• Club Brugge (A)

• Olympiakos (H)

• Slavia Prague (A)

• Kairat Almaty (H)

• Athletic Bilbao (A)

Champions League group phase dates:

Matchday 1: 16–18 September 2025

Matchday 2: 30 September–1 October 2025

Matchday 3: 21-22 October 2025

Matchday 4: 4-5 November 2025

Matchday 5: 2-26 November 2025

Matchday 6: 9-10 December 2025

Matchday 7: 20-21 January 2026

Matchday 8: 28 January 2026

Champions League knockout stage dates:

Knockout phase play-offs: 17-18 and 24-25 February 2026

Round of 16: 10-11 and 17-18 March 2026

Quarter-finals: 7-8 and 14-15 April 2026

Semi-finals: 28-29 April and 5-6 May 2026

Final: 30 May 2026, Budapest

See how the rest of the draw played out

Image source, Getty Images

There are six Premier League teams in this season's Champions League.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle United and Tottenham are about to find out who they will face in the league phase of the 2025-26 competition.

Follow it all unfold here

Image source, Getty Images

The draw has been made for the Carabao Cup third round, with 15 Premier League clubs having made it through or entering at this stage.

There are two all-Premier League ties, while holders Newcastle host League One Bradford City.

Ties will take place across two weeks, beginning on 15 and 22 September.

All the fixtures featuring top-flight sides are shown below in the order they were drawn:

• Port Vale v Arsenal

• Swansea City v Nottingham Forest

• Lincoln City v Chelsea

• Tottenham Hotspur v Doncaster Rovers

• Brentford v Aston Villa

• Huddersfield Town v Manchester City

• Liverpool v Southampton

• Newcastle United v Bradford City

• Wolves v Everton

• Crystal Palace v Millwall

• Burnley v Cardiff City

• Barnsley v Brighton

• Fulham v Cambridge United

See the full draw

The draw for the league phase of the 2025-26 Champions League will take place on Thursday in Monaco.

It will start at 17:00 BST and will follow the same procedure as the 2024-25 campaign - the first season where the 36-team league phase format took place.

The draw is made up of 27 teams that qualified via league positions, the winners of last season's Champions League and Europa League, and the seven teams that progressed out of qualifying.

This season, there are six English sides involved - Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Newcastle courtesy of finishing in the Premier League top five, and Tottenham after winning the Europa League.

The teams are split into four pots based on their individual Uefa club coefficient ranking.

Starting with pot one, each team will be drawn out individually. They will then be selected eight opponents via Uefa's automated software.

A team will play eight games in total, including two teams from each pot - one home and one away.

No group-stage fixtures can be played against teams from the same country, nor more than two against teams from the another country.

This procedure will continue until the fixtures for all 36 teams have been decided.

The Champions League fixture list with match dates and kick-off times will be published no later than Saturday, 30 August.

This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

Image source, Getty Images

After years of saying "if only", Arsenal have finally given themselves a real opportunity to win the title.

The problem always seemed to be injuries to key players; the very best squads can manage that and aren't totally reliant on one or two stars. The Gunners have been offensively dependent on Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka for a few years now. If either was injured, they were in trouble as an attacking force - unless they scored from a set piece.

Both were injured on Saturday but the times they are a-changing at the Emirates with the introduction of Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyokeres and Eberechi Eze. Now there is no need to panic if one or two limp off.

The five goals against Leeds underlined that there are more options and that is before you even think of the young attacking starlets Ethan Nwaneri, the emerging Max Dowman and Kai Havertz who will hopefully return soon.

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Watch Theo Walcott analyse Arsenal's exciting youngster Max Dowman after the 15-year-old made his Premier League debut and won a penalty against Leeds on Saturday.

"He's got ability you just can't teach," Walcott told BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club.

"He just plays with that freedom. I've heard people talk about football becoming boring - watch him! He is not boring to watch. He's so positive every time he has the ball. It is so refreshing.

"He's quicker with the ball - he's like Messi!"

Watch the full episode on BBC iPlayer and listen on BBC Sounds

Laura Kirk-Francis
Fan writer

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What a week it has been at Arsenal.

On Wednesday, fans received news that Kai Havertz will be facing an extended period on the sidelines with a knee injury. A few hours later, news broke of the bid for Eberechi Eze, who was subsequently presented to a raucous Emirates Stadium crowd before the Gunners' 5-0 win over Leeds United.

Much of the attention was given to striker Viktor Gyokeres, who scored twice, and an impressive performance off the bench by 15-year-old Max Dowman.

But there was another Arsenal player who made a quietly impressive debut at the Emirates.

Noni Madueke's arrival in July was met with confusion from some fans. Small but vocal parts of the fanbase even voiced their disagreement with the signing. There was a feeling the 23-year old would need to 'prove himself' to supporters.

Madueke's performance on Saturday, although without any goals or assists, showed perhaps what Mikel Arteta sees in him.

Throughout the first half, Madueke stayed wide, hugging the touchline but also having the confidence and skill to beat his man and put in a cross. His relationship with Riccardo Calafiori still needs time to develop, but there were flashes of brilliance.

Arsenal have been immensely reliant on the right flank but, as Madueke settles in, they will certainly appreciate a better balance on both sides of the pitch.

Bukayo Saka's injury in the 54th minute meant that Madueke spent the first 10 minutes of the second half, before his own substitution, on the opposite flank.

The versatility to cover for perhaps Arsenal's best player is to be admired. He has also spoken about welcoming the competition between himself and Dowman for a place in the starting XI.

Arsenal fans have longed for a squad with depth in each position for a while. Saturday's performance by Madueke shows what an intelligent signing he could be.

Find more from Laura Kirk-Francis at the Latte Firm podcast, external

Sami Mokbel
Senior football correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal are interested in signing Bayer Leverkusen defender Piero Hincapie.

The Gunners want a left-sided defender as a priority this summer, with Ecuador international Hincapie emerging as a strong candidate.

Arsenal's recruitment staff have watched the 23-year-old extensively, sources told BBC Sport.

Hincapie has a 60m euro (£52m) release clause and is keen to leave the German club before the transfer window closes.

He has made 166 appearances in all competitions for Leverkusen since joining in 2021 and was part of the squad that won the Bundesliga and German Cup in 2023-24.

Tottenham have also been linked with a move for Hincapie, but sources insist he is not a player Spurs are currently pursuing.

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal have been given a boost after scans on Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard suggested that neither have suffered long-term injuries despite both being substituted early in the Gunners' 5-0 win over Leeds United.

Captain Odegaard was withdrawn in the first half with a shoulder injury, while Saka left the field in the second half with a suspected hamstring injury.

The club have said neither player will be out for a substantial period, but former Premier League midfielder Nigel Re-Coker says "it is a bit of a worry" still.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast, he said: "Creatively they are both a real threat so where is it going to come from now? Saka is 'Mr Arsenal' as he is the more influential player.

"Thankfully they have just signed Eberechi Eze, who is a special player, and he is going to have to go straight in at the deep end and take the burden of being the man that creates for Arsenal.

"He hasn't gone to Arsenal to be the main man, he has gone to show the talent that he has, and he is definitely capable of doing it."

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