Premier League: Arsenal, which hosted Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium, was faced with injuries and suspensions

Arsenal’s quiet start to the season hit stormy waters last week and Mikel Arteta’s side know they cannot afford to lose at home to Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday.

Defeat at Bournemouth last weekend was Arsenal’s first defeat since April and not only did they drop three points, but they also lost the game against Liverpool following a red card for key defender William Saliba.

Arsenal responded with a grueling 1-0 win against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday, but even that saw defender Riccardo Calafiori substituted injured after 20 minutes.

The Italian player, along with the suspended Saliba and the injured trio Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber, will not be able to play in the visit of the Liverpool team, which started the post-Juergen Klopp period in an extraordinary way.

Liverpool’s 1-0 victory over RB Leipzig on Wednesday means new manager Arne Slot has won 11 of his first 12 games in charge, including six away games – both club records.

Defeat would leave Arsenal seven points behind Slot and possibly six behind Manchester City, who host Southampton in second on Saturday.

This might not cause Arteta to hit the panic button, but allowing his two biggest title rivals to start such an early advantage would leave the Londoners with precious little leeway in the coming months.

Following Arsenal’s hard-fought win against Donetsk, Arteta promised his team would be ‘flying’ on Sunday after four days of preparation, but Liverpool will be brimming with confidence despite having one less day to recover from their trip to Germany.

“Arteta has done a great job over the last few years and we have to be on top of our game to get results,” Slot said.

THE BEST START

The Dutchman is enjoying the best start by any Liverpool manager and the key appears to be making minimal changes to Klopp’s formula, although there appears to be a more pragmatic element to their style seen in their courageous 2-1 win against Chelsea last weekend it seems.

This was considered Slot’s biggest test to date and it passed it with flying colors. Victory at Arsenal late on Saturday would represent another big result.

Champions Manchester City will likely be top of the table by then, as it will be a huge shock if they fail to beat a Southampton team still reeling from a 3-2 defeat at home to struggling Leicester City last week when they were 2-0 up.

Fourth-placed Aston Villa made it three wins in the Champions League on Tuesday and as they prepare to welcome Bournemouth on Saturday, a win would take them to 20 points, one point behind Liverpool in ninth place.

“We have to continue to raise the level,” coach Unai Emery said after Tuesday’s 2-0 home win against Bologna.

As well as Arsenal’s heavyweight clash with Liverpool, there will be three more matches in the capital on Sunday, the most interesting of which will be between West Ham United and Manchester United.

Hammers manager Julen Lopetegui has had a difficult start to his reign and last weekend’s 4-1 thrashing at Tottenham Hotspur did not go down well with fans.

The defeat leaves West Ham in 15th place, three points behind Manchester United, whose 2-1 win against Brentford last weekend gave under-fire manager Erik ten Hag some respite.

But Dutchman Ten Hag needs more than a bizarre victory to escape the endless cycle of crisis in which he has spent much of his time at Old Trafford.

The weekend schedule kicks off with the east Midlands derby on Friday, with Leicester manager Steve Cooper welcoming back his resurgent former club Nottingham Forest, who will move into fifth place for at least a few hours with a win.