Arne Slot's Reds could end the week anywhere between four and 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League with some huge games on the horizon
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This season hasn't quite been one from hell for Arsenal – they only need to glance over at the atrocities of rivals Manchester United and Tottenham to understand what that really looks like – but, to paraphrase a bitter 'Come Dine With Me' contestant, they have stumbled through it with the grace and decorum of a reversing dump truck.
Whenever it seems as if the Gunners can join together spurts of momentum, they are unceremoniously tripped up and out of that stride. Injuries have mainly been their Achilles heel, though underwhelming summer and winter transfer windows have contributed, be that directly or indirectly, to the malaise as well. That for the second season running a new midfielder, first Kai Havertz and now Mikel Merino, will end the year as the starting striker is emblematic to such carelessness in recruitment.
Mikel Arteta's side are out of both domestic cups and are not in the driving seat for either the Premier League or the Champions League. If they are to be crowned kings of England for the first time in 21 years, they need to not only up their own game, but hope and pray for an inexplicable collapse from leaders Liverpool – only 1995-96 Newcastle have not finished first after leading by seven points or more at this stage of a Premier League season.
Up on Merseyside, Arne Slot's men have emerged from a gruelling double gameweek with four points. That number could have been six as easily as it could have been two. Sunday's 2-1 victory at home to Wolves was particularly jangling for the Anfield nerves.
Arsenal require some help from a few old enemies over the next fortnight to chase down Liverpool, who continue their charge with a trip to Aston Villa on Wednesday. Awaiting them at Villa Park is the new-age duo of Ollie Watkins and Marcus Rashford, desperate for goals, desperate to secure another season of Champions League football.
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Arsenal's recent tapestry has been trodden across by a series of pantomime villains; Watkins and Rashford are among the top tormentors.
For two seasons running, Villa have rocked up to the Emirates Stadium and rained on the hosts' parade. A few weeks ago, Watkins, a boyhood Gunner, provided the equaliser in a 2-2 draw, while he led the way in last year's 2-0 victory which effectively cost the hosts the title to Manchester City.
Rashford's Premier League career with Manchester United began with an unexpected brace in a 3-2 win at home to Arsenal, another occasion which trashed their title credentials. In more recent times, he came up with a double that ended their unbeaten start to the 2022-23 campaign.
It will be refreshing for Gunners fans to be on the other side of the fence on Wednesday, rooting for two of their nemeses as opposed to fearing them.
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Yet the present and futures of Watkins, Rashford and Arsenal could have been oh so different. At the tail end of the January window, the north Londoners launched a bid for Villa's No.11, though one well below asking price at a relatively measly £45 million ($57m).
It was never going to be enough for Villa to accept, particularly so late in the month and with Jhon Duran already halfway out the door to Al-Nassr for an even more extravagant fee. All it showed was Arsenal were indeed in the market for a striker having kept their powder dry to that point in the window, but weren't serious enough about such an endeavour to succeed.
Since news of that offer broke, Watkins has contributed two goals and two assists in three games for Villa. His head may have been temporarily turned – and who would blame him? – but he has got back down to business. There hasn't been as much fanfare about his season, yet he's still chugging along and putting up numbers.
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Arsenal were also touted as a potential landing spot for Rashford after he revealed his desire to leave United early in the winter. Alas, any lingering interest in the forward never advanced.
There was a pretty solid case for Arteta to take a troubled Rashford under his wing having already salvaged the careers of some of their rivals' other distressed assets, namely Havertz and Jorginho from Chelsea. The need for a versatile forward with pace and dynamism added further fuel to that fire of wonder and intrigue.
Nevertheless, Arsenal probably felt vindicated by a lack of other serious suitors for Rashford. AC Milan quickly came off the table when they prioritised Kyle Walker for the final non-EU spot in their squad, while Barcelona were never going to be able to afford a deal having struggled for weeks to even register their own players already on the books.
Villa took a punt because they have nothing much left to lose in a season threatening to run out of steam. It would have gone against Arsenal's keep calm and carry on memo to take such a risk.
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Watkins and Rashford have shared a Villa pitch for only 45 minutes, and already they appear to have an unspoken connection usually reserved for the best of attackers. The United loanee came off the bench for the second half of Saturday's 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town and was the game's protagonist, creating four chances, winning seven duels and rattling the post from a free-kick leading to Watkins' equaliser.
Rashford was criticised for an 18-month slump following his 30-goal exploits of 2022-23, though one Premier League appearance in claret and blue saw him roll back those years. There was, most notably, a spring and bounce about him that had disappeared entirely down the final stretch of his United career.
There have been fair question marks placed over Rashford and whether he can really hit the heights expected of him again, but you always know what you're getting with Watkins – a proven, top-level striker who leads by example with both ethic and output. He could click with any type of forward, and that quality could be Rashford's saving grace in his quest for rejuvenation and redemption.
