Kick Off: 16:30 GMT

Location: Emirates Stadium, Islington, London

UK Broadcaster: BBC ONE

Possible Arsenal XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior; Rice, Havertz, Odegaard; Martinelli, Jesus, Saka

Arsenal Absentees: Vieira, Timber, Partey, Zinchenko (doubt), Tomiyasu (Asia Cup), Elneny (AFCON)

Arsenal Form: LLDWD

Possible Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Gomez; Jones, Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Jota, Gakpo, Diaz

Liverpool Absentees: Doak, Thiago, Bajcetic, Robertson, Matip, Szoboszlai, Salah (AFCON)

Liverpool Form: WWDWD

In a game that, due to recent circumstances, means far more to Arsenal than it does to Liverpool, the home side will be desperate for a result here. Winless in 3 games, down in 4th place in the league after being 1st at Christmas, fan mood at a low, a win for Arsenal here would be huge going into the winter break.

Being the most successful team in the competition, Arsenal should always be a force in the FA Cup. Last year, Arsenal were knocked out by eventual winners Manchester City in the 4th round, and now they face Liverpool in the 3rd round – not the best of luck when it comes to the draw.

Coming off the back of their worst performance of the season by a long shot, in a dreadful 2-1 loss away to Fulham, which was itself preceded by loss at home to West Ham, Arsenal need to starting winning games again, even in the cups. Some might say especially in the cups, given the lack of trophies for Arsenal in recent years.

Both teams find themselves missing key players. Liverpool will be without Mo Salah, which will come as a huge boost for the left side of the Arsenal defence which will most likely be led by Jakub Kiwior. A left side that, in a perfect world, would probably be manned by Takehiro Tomiyasu, with the Japanese International away for the Asia Cup (good luck to him and his team).

Arteta, in his pre match conference, called for the fans to make the Emirates a more hostile place for visiting teams, especially teams like Liverpool. We’ve seen the effect a crowd can have on not only the opposition team, but the referees. This may be hard to achieve on Sunday, what with train strikes making the trip to the Emirates one hard to justify.

The absolute worst case scenario here isn’t a loss – it would be a draw. A replay would be in the worst interests of both sides, but more so for Arsenal, who would face the prospect of another trip to Anfield in a match that would cut their winter break short. My predicted Arsenal lineup reflects this – Mikel Arteta will go for this game with everything available to him.

I won’t predict a result here, because I honestly can’t call this game. It all depends on which Arsenal show up.