'Believe me' - Mikel Arteta sends defiant message to Liverpool as seven Arsenal players may miss clash

Mikel Arteta has insisted that his Arsenal troops will be re-energised for their seismic encounter against Liverpool.

The Gunners laboured to a 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Their goal came when visiting goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk turned into his own net in the 29th minute.

Arsenal have struggled since returning from the international break, having lost 2-0 at AFC Bournemouth last weekend - with key defender William Saliba given a red card. That means he is suspended for the visit of Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. Arne Slot’s men head to north London top of the Premier League table and four points above the third-placed Gunners.

Injuries are taking their toll on Arteta’s squad. Riccardo Calafiori limped off against Shakhtar and is looking unlikely to be available, along with wing-wizard Bukayo Saka and defender Jurrien Timber. In addition, captain Martin Odegaard has been absent for more than a month with knee ligament damage while Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu are also on the treatment table.

However, Arteta has stressed that his side will recover from now until Liverpool’s visit - and will be ‘flying’. He said: “Well, we played two nights ago with players coming from internationals after flying from Brazil and many countries. I was expecting a bit of a drop off. And the fact that we put so much in the first half and didn’t get the distance in terms of the scoreline, I think we paid a bit for that. Then we made life more difficult for us because we started give the ball away in not the right areas and then it was more open.

“That didn’t’ help. But we have now four days. Believe me, come Sunday we’ll be flying. We’ll review, have a day off, then two days to prepare the game. Sunday is far and we are more than comfortable that we’ll be in the right place.”