Emirates Scoring Record the Key for Arsenal Women Against Liverpool

Tuesday night was certainly a sobering one for Arsenal, but just a few days on, an opportunity to get back to winning ways comes on Saturday night at Emirates Stadium against Liverpool.

Tens of thousands of spectators, as well as the Sky Sports cameras will be expecting a response from Arsenal. The Gunners were beaten 2 - 0 by Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday and now face the Reds side that knocked them out of the FA Cup earlier this month.

It will be impossible to play without having at least half an eye on Wednesday’s second leg against Real Madrid, but that doesn’t have to be a negative.

The FA Cup defeat to Liverpool hurt; victory on Saturday would right arguably the biggest wrong of the season so far. If Renée Slegers’ team can flip the script on Liverpool, what’s to say they can't do the same to Real Madrid?

Beating the Merseysiders will be no easy task however, as our Gunners know all too well after suffering a 1 - 0 defeat in this fixture on the opening weekend of last season.

Since Matt Beard’s surprise departure from Anfield, the Reds have turned a corner and have won their last three games, including victories over both ourselves and Manchester United.

Liverpool’s strength in both of those games was limiting the clear-cut chances of their opponents; we had just one shot on target in the FA Cup tie earlier this month.

Alessia Russo is so often the key to our success, but given Liverpool’s defensive epiphany in the past three weeks, we may need other players to step up.

Make no mistake, Russo is still a huge threat. But she can be just as dangerous by drawing defenders away from her teammates as she can trying to beat the goalkeeper herself.

If Arsenal get this balance right on Saturday, there’s no reason why their return to Emirates Stadium shouldn’t be a successful one.