Arsenal vs Liverpool: Brendan Rodgers believes domination of space key to Emirates win

Brendan Rodgers believes that he has unearthed the key to beating Arsenal at the Emirates where they were handed a comprehensive 4-1 thrashing last season.

The Reds have won their last two games in the league and have overcome a big psychological barrier in the form of Stoke City, where they were beaten 6-1 on the final day of last season. Rodgers will be looking to extend his winning run by driving a win against the Gunners and exorcise the ghosts of their performance in the last campaign where they were obliterated in a brief period of dominance by the north London club.

The former Swansea man has thoroughly researched Arsenal's performance in the last 10 games where they have lost at home and the manager believes that the Merseyside club need to dominate the space in the middle of the park to stop the Arsenal players from creating chances in the final third.

Rodgers explained how he will alter his tactics to win the game, which will take them six points clear of the Gunners and level with Manchester City.

"If you assess games against Arsenal we have always had dominance of the ball, especially at home. If you assess the last 10 games Arsenal have lost at home, it was about dangerous possession for the teams who won," Rodgers said, as quoted by the Guardian.

"They only averaged four shots on target with 43% possession. That tells you you don't need to dominate the ball but you can dominate the space. That is important in the away games. Tactically we'll arrive in a good mind about how we can win it. There are certain games you look at the approach to get you the result and that is something we have been working on this week," he added.

Both teams are likely to compete with each other for a place in the top four at the end of this season and Rodgers is not willing to add much importance to the result from this fixture as they are still finding their feet in the league.

"It is a game against a rival you are going to be competing with at the top end of the table and while Monday's game won't give a full picture of how it will finish up it is important for confidence and psychologically," Rodgers continued.

"Arsenal, like many teams, are still trying to find rhythm and flow but while doing that you want to win. West Ham got a good result there but with [Alexis] Sánchez back he is a real catalyst for them and they played well at Crystal Palace. It is a challenge we are looking forward to."