Ahead of Arsenal’s game against Liverpool, both managers have given their views. Arsene Wenger identifies Liverpool as a strong side, and says any team who wants to beat the Merseyside club must possess a lot of pace. Despite beating them 4-1 in the reverse fixture last season, Wenger is wary of the threat.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers says that his team must dominate the space of the field in order to overcome Arsenal, who are title favourites. Keeping the Gunners off the ball is a big priority for the Irishman.

Here’s what Wenger had to say:

“You need to be strong at home that is for sure.”

“If you want to win the championship you need to win your home games. It can happen that you lose the odd game but overall you need home strength.”

“Against teams who came only to defend, we didn’t find the goal, but it happens to all the other teams as well. Normally you would think over 19 games you can sometimes be unlucky once or twice. Most of the time if you really dominate the games you will win.”

Wenger then praised Spanish attacking midfielder Santi Cazorla, a player who he often plays in a number of different positions.

“Santi is an important player in the buildup of our game. He is naturally a guy who brings fluidity, and gets you out of tight situations.”

“Let’s remember two years ago with Suárez, Sturridge and Sterling they scored over a hundred goals. To score more than 100 goals in the Premier League, you need special quality to do that. Sterling was part of that. I personally rate Raheem Sterling. We will see that in the longer term. He’s a quality player. But they bought Firmino. We will see what he will produce. He is a similar player.”

But.. “They refused to sell us Suárez so I cannot feel too much sympathy for them.” said Wenger.

As for Rodgers, he has been monitoring Arsenal’s stats more than anything. The Irishman has noticed that without possession, the Gunners are much less effective.. (you don’t say).

“If you assess the last 10 games Arsenal have lost at home, it’s been about dangerous possession for the teams who have won.” Rodgers said.

“No matter when these games come in the season, they are always good for the psychological effect.”

“The teams who have been [to Arsenal] have only averaged about four shots on target, with 43% possession. It tells you that you don’t need to dominate the ball, but you can dominate the space.”

“Like Arsenal, we do like to dominate the ball, but there are certain games where you look at the tactical approach of what will get you the result. That’s something we’ve done and have been working on this week.”

[Quotes via the Guardian and BBC Sport respectively]