Mikel Arteta told exactly what Arsenal must do as huge Liverpool weakness identified

Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal team have a huge opportunity at Liverpool on Sunday (Image: Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Arsenal have the chance to make a real statement this weekend when they travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool. Mikel Arteta's side have a 100% record from their first two Premier League games of the season having defeated both Manchester United and Leeds United.

Much was made of Arsenal's extremely tricky start to the campaign and the games are going to get harder over the coming weeks with Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Newcastle United to come. Whereas some may look at those games and fear the worst, Arteta and his team will view them as an opportunity to lay down a real marker and send a major warning to their title rivals .

The Gunners have not fared well at Anfield over the past decade or so, with their last Premier League win at Liverpool's home coming all the way back in September 2012. They did, however, frustrate the Reds back in May after fighting back from a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 on Merseyside.

Arsenal are two from two in the Premier League this season and the same applies to Arne Slot's Liverpool. However, the Reds have been far from convincing and required late goals against both Bournemouth and Newcastle United to claim maximum points.

The victory at Newcastle, courtesy of 16-year-old star Rio Ngumoha's last-gasp winner, all came about after the visitors threw away a healthy 2-0 lead against 10 men. The Reds didn't do enough to kill the game off and Bruno Guimaraes gave Newcastle hope in the 57th minute before William Osula equalised after 88 minutes, with Ngumoha then dealing the Magpies a killer blow deep into 10 minutes of stoppage time.

In Sky Sports' post-match analysis, former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher pointed to Milos Kerkez's role in the first Newcastle goal and he also mentioned the Hungarian's poor start to life at the club following his transfer from Bournemouth. Ibrahima Konate also came in for criticism as "he has been all over the place".

“Kerkez has made a really poor start to his Liverpool career," outlined Carragher (via Liverpool Echo ). "He found it really difficult against Bournemouth in the first game, he was a little bit nervous.

"He was up against [Anthony] Elanga today - not easy - but this isn't enough. You've just got to go and head the ball. He's almost trying to stop the player.

"That is really, really poor. He's not the biggest but you've got to jump, you've got to challenge in that situation."

He added: "I said before maybe that was one of the worst ways to win - Liverpool's performance was so poor.

"XI vs XI they were poor. Arne Slot talked about the duels in the game, they lost a lot of duels. At one stage I remember Anthony Gordon winning a header against [Ibrahima] Konate in the first half and thinking 'that can't happen!'

"Liverpool's front four found it really tough up against that back four coming up behind them, being strong and aggressive. But the biggest problem I felt with Liverpool tonight was when they had the extra man they were almost just keeping the ball like there was a minute to go, going back to the goalkeeper.

"You have to go for the next goal. I kept saying all it needed was a long throw or set-piece and that's exactly what happened. Liverpool were so poor on the ball.

"There's people for Liverpool who have made a really poor start to the season. Mo Salah is one of them, even though he's scored a goal and got an assist. Konate is another one. He has been all over the place. You want your centre-back to go with him and win that header.

"He's going backwards but he should deal with that. He's up against Dan Burn and Gravenberch goes on the run. I want my centre back to go and win that.

"He was all over the place last week - he was more interested in grabbing [Burn's] arm. He was really poor in the first half as well. He's absolutely not at the races.

"I shudder to think where Liverpool would be without Virgil van Dijk, who has been absolutely outstanding in both games."

Arsenal can take encouragement from Liverpool's first two Premier League fixtures and they do have the players at their disposal who can punish the Reds . Games at Anfield are never straightforward for the Gunners, though, and everything will need to fall into place if they are to leave with three points and continue their 100% start to the campaign.

Carragher has pointed out a couple of weak points in this Liverpool team and it is now up to Arteta and Arsenal to capitalise on those and send out a real warning in the title race. Sunday really is a big opportunity for Arsenal.