Liverpool vs Arsenal: Defensive conundrums, midfield headaches and mind games will play their part

This Saturday brings us the battle of the current league leaders; Liverpool and Arsenal respectively. So far, both teams have enjoyed a fairly easy start to the season. While Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United all dropped points on match-day two, both Liverpool and Arsenal are on a roll with 2 wins in 2 match played.

Game-week three will see the recent Super Cup champions Liverpool welcome Unai Emery’s men to their fortress, Anfield. Below, we take a look at the five factors that should influence the match between Liverpool and Arsenal.

#1. Fresh legs

Action from the Southampton-Liverpool match.

Both teams have a six-day rest period before the match on Saturday. However, the Reds might feel the need for this rest more than their Saturday’s opponents. Jürgen Klopp’s boys have had a long stretch of games in August.

The campaign started with the Community Shield for the Reds before even the Premier League had started. A midweek UEFA Super Cup victory followed by the second game of the Premier League add up to quite a lot of minutes on the legs during the past two weeks for the Reds. With the Cups finally out of the way, Liverpool willhave some days to rest their legs and work on their strategies. Arsenal would benefit from the same 6 days’ rest and may come out fresher than the Reds.

#2. Defensive conundrums

Bought for a fee of £66.8 million, on 19 July 2018, the Brazilian goalkeeper, Alisson Becker became Liverpool’s most expensive goalkeeper. Thrown in behind a back-line of Virgil van Dijk, the most expensive defender in the world at the time, Liverpool’s defensive issues had seen a major resolution. However, So far this season, Liverpool’s biggest issue has been in this department itself.

Losing Alisson in the first game had them turning to Adrian and the latter hasn’t done a bad job until the mistake in the Southampton game. Adrian is set to start along with van Dijk and Andy Robertson in front of him. The big question, though, is who partners van Dijk at the center of defense?

Joel Matip might be given the nod ahead of Joe Gomez who could see himself shifted to right back position over Trent Alexander-Arnold. Given Arsenal’s attacking firepower, Klopp might choose a defensive approach, thus Alexander-Arnold could find himself on the bench.

Arsenal, on the other hand, has invested in Chelsea’s former defender, David Luiz, this season. Preferred over Shokdran Mustafi, Arsenal has tried to find the answers of their defensive issues in David Luiz.

Liverpool vs Arsenal could prove to be a question of whose defense would crumble first.

#3. The midfield headache

Liverpool FC v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Premier League

Jurgen Klopp has a real headache while picking midfielders for this game. With Jordan Henderson and Fabinho coming back into the side after being rested for Southampton, they look set to start against Arsenal. As to who will partner Fabinho and Henderson, Klopp has to choose between Wijnaldum, Xherdan Shaqiri, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner. In huge games, the Reds’ boss has a tendency to choose the experience of James Milner over the rest but otherwise, Wijnaldum could retain his place.

Arsenal, on the other hand, have found a gem in Dani Ceballos. On loan from Real Madrid, Ceballos ran the show against Burnley for Arsenal, assisting for both goals in their 2-1 win. Unai Emery would be counting on him to back Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.

#4 - Pepe’s full debut

Arsenal FC v Burnley FC - Premier League

Signed for a club record of £72 million, one of Ligue 1’s standout players last season, Pepe is yet to make his starting eleven debut. Arsenal have gradually been easing Pepe into the team. He played around 45 minutes against Burnley, but it might just be the time for a full debut for Pepe.

With a high-pressing front three like the Reds have, the Gunners would need to find their own attacking prowess to match that of Liverpool. If Pepe makes his debut, he could prove to be a threat along with Aubameyang and Lacazette in order to rival the likes of the Egyptian star Mohamed Salah and his partners Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané.

This Saturday, all eyes could be on Pepe.

#5 - Mind games

Ahead of the trip to Anfield, Unai Emery joked that despite Liverpool being a good challenge for his side, he hoped that he could avoid playing them. Unlike last season where Arsenal had back-to-back defeats, this season they have been off to a good start and would hate to lose points at this stage of the league.

The Gunners are second on the Premier League table, same point as the Reds but trailing with a 2 goal difference. Emery wouldn’t be wrong to be cautious against the side that demolished Norwich and managed a difficult win over Southampton. But it could all be Emery’s mind games to avoid the 5-1 reversal they suffered during their last visit.

The European Champions, stewarded by the wily Jurgen Klopp, would have to be careful not to get stuck in any kind of mind games as they welcome the Gunners to Anfield.

Edited by S Chowdhury