Arsenal suffered at the hands of Chelsea last weekend as
Romelu Lukaku scored on his second debut in a 2-0 win for the Blues.
The Belgian, who returned to Stamford Bridge this month for
a club record £97 million ($133 million), scored his 114th Premier League goal
at the Emirates, but his first for Chelsea after failing to make an impression
in his first spell at the club.
Now 28, Lukaku looks the complete package and the final
piece needed to turn Thomas Tuchel's European champions into Premier League
winners.
Chelsea and Liverpool are two of five teams to take maximum
points from two games alongside West Ham, Tottenham and Brighton.
But of the pre-season title favourites, they have already
opened up a two-point advantage over Manchester United and three-point lead on
Manchester City.
Lukaku faces a much tougher test at a full Anfield with
Liverpool rejuvenated by the return of fans and talismanic centre-back Virgil
van Dijk from injury.
The Dutchman's presence has seen Jurgen Klopp's men keep two
clean sheets in their opening games against Norwich and Burnley.
But goalkeeper Alisson Becker acknowledged that beating
Chelsea would send a far stronger signal to their title rivals that Liverpool
are back to their best.
"For what we believe and for what we want to achieve,
it's a good sign because you are playing one of the favourite sides in the
title race and if you can beat one of these sides it's always good for you to
give confidence," said the Brazilian.
"We won the Premier League before and we know that we
need to think always about the next challenge that we have in front of us, so
this game is important."
More misery for Mikel?
Arsenal sit second bottom without a point or even a goal to
show from their first two league games and face a daunting trip to the
defending champions if they are to break that drought before a two-week
international break.
The Gunners got a morale-boosting 6-0 win over a youthful
West Brom side in the League Cup in midweek to ease the pressure on manager
Mikel Arteta with captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring a hat-trick in his
first start of the season after testing positive for coronavirus.
Arteta has reportedly been given until the October
international break to turn things around, but Arsenal's recent record against
City gives little cause for optimism come Saturday.
City have not lost to Arsenal in the league since 2015 and
can ill-afford another slip up after losing to Tottenham on the first weekend
of the season.
Homecoming for Kane
City were forced to concede another defeat to Spurs chairman
Daniel Levy this week after Harry Kane announced he will be remaining at
Tottenham this season.
The England captain had wanted to move to the Etihad with
the aim of ending his wait to win a trophy, but City were unwilling to meet
Levy's demands of a fee well in excess of the Premier League record £100
million they paid for Jack Grealish earlier this month.
Despite the speculation over his future, Kane was given a
hero's welcome by the travelling Tottenham support away to Wolves last weekend.
After committing his future to his boyhood club, he is
expected to start for the first time in the league this season when Spurs aim
to keep their perfect start going at home to Watford.
Fixtures (all times GMT)
Saturday
Manchester City v Arsenal (1130), Newcastle v Southampton, Norwich v Leicester, Aston Villa v Brentford, Brighton v Everton, West Ham v Crystal Palace (all 1400), Liverpool v Chelsea (1630)
Sunday
Leeds v Burnley, Tottenham v Watford (both 1300), Wolves v
Manchester United (1530). AFP