Arne Slot makes feelings clear on Mikel Arteta after direct Liverpool warning

Arne Slot made it clear that .

The Reds travel to Arsenal on Sunday for a showdown between two teams who will hope to be challenging for the title at the back end of the campaign.

During the previous two seasons, Arsenal replaced as Manchester City's main title challengers, but 's men go into Sunday's clash as the form team in England, having won 11 of their 12 matches in all competitions.

has started the season in decent fashion and sits third in the table, four points off Liverpool in first, but disciplinary issues and injury problems have slightly hampered the Gunners.

Mikel Arteta's team has gone down to 10 men on three occasions in the Premier League already, with Declan Rice, Leandro Trossard and William Saliba seeing red against Brighton, Arsenal and Bournemouth respectively. Arsenal failed to win any of those matches, having picked up maximum points from the games the team finished with 11 players in.

Injury-wise, Martin Odegaard has been missing since the September international break after sustaining ankle ligament damage, while Bukayo Saka is unlikely to figure against Liverpool either due to a hamstring problem, and n in the Champions League.

Irrespective of the issues Arsenal has faced early on in the season, Slot believes his side is in for a huge test. "We know how tough of an opponent Arsenal is, especially in their own stadium," Slot told TNT Sports. "We faced them in the pre-season, when both teams didn't have their whole squads. Mikel has done an amazing job over the last few years. We know, like against Chelsea and today, we will have to be on top of our game to get a result."

Speaking after Arsenal's win over Shakhtar, Arteta said that he doesn't expect Saka to recover in time to face Liverpool. The winger hasn't played since being replaced during England's defeat by Greece during the international break. “He wasn’t able to train yet so that’s unlikely [that he will play against Liverpool]," Arteta said.

On Calafiori, the Spaniard added: “He had to come off because he felt something. I don’t know the extent of it, so in that sense not great news.” Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu have also been missing for Arsenal since the international break and it is not clear whether they will return in time to face Liverpool. Saliba, meanwhile, is suspended for the game following his dismissal at Bournemouth.