Liverpool are set to travel to London tomorrow for a huge match against Arsenal in an effort to keep their remarkable start to the season going.
With everyone’s eyes glued to the screen from 4pm onwards on Sunday, each of Liverpool and Arsenal’s players will be firmly under the microscope of Premier League fans.
Liverpool enter the game as favourites, despite starting the season under a new manager, facing a team that has challenged for the league title for the last two years.
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defensive duties to be tested
Likely to be up against Gabriel Martinelli, Trent Alexander-Arnold will be expected to keep the Brazilian winger quiet.
Despite having a relatively poor season, Martinelli often turns up against Liverpool and the spotlight will be firmly on him should Bukayo Saka remain sidelined with his injury.
However, Trent has defended notably well this season as he continues to try and dispel the concerns that he is a defender that ‘cannot defend’ – although he has won everything there is to win, playing at the highest level for the past seven years.
And as a whole, Liverpool’s defensive unit has been substantially more stable this season under Arne Slot, conceding just five goals in the 12 games they have played so far.
Liverpool were subject to a calamitous defensive error at the Emirates last time out, with a lack of communication between Alisson Becker and Virgil Van Dijk resulting in Martinelli running through to slot the ball in an open net.
But you would feel that Liverpool will have learnt their lesson this time around and the wave of momentum leading up to the game is firmly in the Reds’ corner.
In addition, Trent made clear earlier this season about his personal intention to work with Slot on being more defensively stable and the results have been clear to see.
Trent’s attacking history against Arsenal
While Trent is working on his defensive work behind the scenes, his attacking prowess is perhaps as good as it has ever been, either by driving down the right side of the pitch or drifting into midfield to play balls through the lines into the attackers.
Throughout his seven-year professional career so far, Trent has delivered 87 assists in all competitions, with nine of them coming in the 16 matches he has played against Arsenal.
As such, the full-back is likely to be at the heart of Liverpool’s attacks tomorrow and Arsenal will have plenty to deal with when Liverpool put their makeshift defence to the test.
William Saliba is out of contention with a one-match ban following his red card last week and as a result of injury concerns surrounding Ricardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber, the Gunners will have to rotate their defensive options.
This will not only bring Liverpool’s wingers into the game as they come up against fullbacks who are perhaps dropped into the position as a last-minute change, but Trent will also feel he can utilise the spaces that Arsenal leave if they try to defend compactly.
Liverpool against the low-block
Arsenal have often been criticised for their intention to keep as defensively solid as possible, putting attacking threat on the back burner in preference to keep hold of any lead they have, rather than putting the game to bed themselves.
And in the absence of their captain Martin Odegaard, who is undoubtedly the main creative force within their midfield, Arsenal have preferred to play with a defensive double-pivot made up of Declan Rice and Thomas Partey, leaving the remaining midfield slot open to Jorginho or Mikel Merino, both also defensive-minded players.
In doing so, the London club often receives criticism for playing four centre-backs and three defensive midfielders, although at least one traditional full-back will feature this time around.
Against the low-block, often utilised by teams battling relegation, Liverpool have found no difficulty in creating a substantial amount of expected goals (xg) but clear-cut chances have been few and far between given the lack of space in the box for balls to be sent into.
However, Liverpool’s utilisation of Trent could well be the key to edging out a close contest between the two title challenges, using his abundance of creativity against an Arsenal team that will likely be short of ideas should their injury list remain as currently reported.
When Manchester City came up against Arsenal at the Etihad earlier in the season, the match was riddled with controversy surrounding each team’s approach when the Gunners went a man down. But through sticking to their guns, Arsenal very nearly got away with all three points, only conceding an equaliser with the last kick of the match.
Against Liverpool on Sunday, Arsenal may find it slightly harder to get away with such an approach in front of their fans, but we will likely see a contest that is just as dicey.
