Final season’s prime two (and most of the people’s picks to be first and second this season too) face off at Anfield on Sunday, with the assembly of Liverpool and Arsenal the primary field workplace spectacular of the brand new Premier League season. It is probably not a match that decides the title race however by way of setting the tone for the months forward, this sport might tackle an outsized significance.
Mikel Arteta goes into it with a formidable report to defend. His Arsenal facet haven’t misplaced a Premier League match towards Liverpool since March 2022, nevertheless it has been fairly some time for the reason that Spaniard tasted top-flight victory at Anfield, going all the way in which again to a 2-0 win in September 2012 when Arteta was a starter for Arsene Wenger’s facet.
Each side might be chasing a 3rd win from their first three video games, with Arne Slot conscious about the necessity to enhance a protection that has conceded six objectives throughout their league and Neighborhood Protect video games thus far. Equally, the Liverpool assault is trying in menacing type and can you’ll want to ask loads of questions of Arsenal. Listed here are a few of the key points each coaches might be grappling with going into the sport:
1. Who locks down Salah?
It might be unimaginable for any group to gradual Mohamed Salah at full tilt, but when anybody has given it a superb go in recent times, it’s Arsenal. The Egyptian has nonetheless cooked up some particular moments towards his title rivals however when Mikel Arteta’s protection has been good towards Salah, they’ve compelled him to reside off scraps.
Their method is comparatively simple. Salah goes to drive infield from the precise flank on his stronger proper foot, so Arsenal will reply, after they can, by sticking a defender at left again who can defend on his proper foot. Ideally, he may also cowl overlapping assaults or Salah driving down the byline, a real two-footed defender. Takehiro Tomiyasu was the function’s progenitor; if his health could possibly be relied on, he would in all probability nonetheless be within the Arsenal squad particularly for video games like this one. Jurrien Timber, Arsenal’s finest defensive fullback, did a superb job for 76 minutes on the Emirates final season. 5 minutes later, Salah scored an equalizer that on reflection might need throttled Arsenal’s title momentum.
With a full slate of gamers to select from, Mikel Arteta may nicely have been tempted to shunt Timber throughout to left again once more. Then once more, that is Arsenal we’re speaking about. It has been nicely over a yr with no full slate. No Ben White — north London’s stout knight, the type of participant who’d lose a leg and persuade his bosses he might play by means of a flesh wound — means there is just one proper again to select from. Which means considered one of Riccardo Calafiori or Myles Lewis-Skelly could have the duty of marshalling Salah.
Lewis-Skelly did so comparatively successfully on the again finish of final season however like a number of springtime opponents, he was operating right into a satiated Salah, one with no extra worlds left to beat in 2024-25. Nonetheless, Lewis-Skelly’s CV of defensive excellence is outstanding for a participant of simply 18 years of age; handing a young person the duty of locking down the most effective attacker in England may simply be probably the most conservative possibility for Arteta.
It’s not that Calafiori can’t be trusted to do his defensive work, extra that in an Arsenal shirt, he has license to bomb throughout the sector, an agent of such chaos that him side-footing the ball into the Etihad web from 30-odd yards makes whole sense. Can he curb his enthusiasm for flying ahead? Ought to he?
Viewing data and odds
- Date: Sunday, Aug. 31| Time: 11:30 a.m. ET
- Location: Anfield — Liverpool, United Kingdom
- TV: NBC
- Odds: Liverpool +125; Draw +240; Arsenal +210
2. Can Wirtz do a job on Zubimendi?
It’s uncommon sufficient to listen to managers discuss how they may match an opposition participant into their group, all of the rarer when that participant is one who turned them down in high-profile style simply over a yr in the past. And but there isn’t a level in Arne Slot pretending like he did not have a imaginative and prescient for Martin Zubimendi. The complete footballing world knew that Liverpool have been working to make him the centerpiece of their new supervisor’s first season, just for Zubimendi to get chilly toes as Arsenal intimated their curiosity for a transfer 12 months later.
“What we appreciated about him was how good he’s on the ball, and the way a lot sport perception he has,” Slot mentioned of Zubimendi. “We thought, and it was true, that we might have the ball rather a lot in each single sport, after which to have somebody in entrance of your defence that could be very snug on the ball would have been a superb match for us. Particularly if he is additionally defensively sturdy sufficient for the league, which he is exhibiting now and which we additionally anticipated.”
As Slot famous, Liverpool discovered a lot of what they wanted in Ryan Gravenberch however he might be going through a particular expertise in Zubimendi, the type of controlling midfield presence who might take the air out of the sport. Pair him with Declan Rice in a real double pivot, one thing that Arteta has experimented with this season, and Arsenal might win the midfield battle towards Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister, who is just simply returning to health.
Liverpool’s deeper midfielders will need assistance and it could come right down to Florian Wirtz to supply that. The previous Bayer Leverkusen man has not but dominated a Premier League sport in possession however he appears to have swiftly tailored to Slot’s necessities for him with out the ball. A keen presser, Wirtz is averaging a restoration within the attacking third each 50 or so minutes (in fact, caveated with a tiny pattern dimension of minutes). He might want to do extra of that off-ball work. Arsenal might be desirous to take the air out of Anfield on what is certain to be a raucous event. A number of minutes of regular, managed possession would do the trick however a regain or two in a harmful place by Wirtz may get the Kop bouncing.
3. Is that this the place Madueke can shine?
Few £50 million signings have been greeted with the sheer aggravation that Arsenal supporters felt when Noni Madueke arrived from Chelsea in the summertime. On-line petitions drew signatures of their 1000’s and graffiti was scrawled outdoors the Emirates calling for Arteta’s sacking. Each summer time appears to serve up an indication that switch tradition is melting the brains of soccer followers. This was that writ massive, not least as a result of Arsenal had simply acquired a participant who might very feasibly handle a number of points throughout their squad. Madueke has already confirmed that he can deepen the choices on the left wing, a extra cross-first, left-footed possibility who contrasts nicely with Gabriel Martinelli. Now he might get a sport on his favoured proper flank.
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Final season, Arsenal needed to scrabble Bukayo Saka again for Liverpool’s go to to the Emirates, a match he lit up with an early aim however during which he light as he battled with a muscle problem. Inside two months, he would undergo a serious hamstring damage. There isn’t a prospect of Saka returning this weekend from the difficulty that compelled him to limp out of the win over Leeds however Arsenal will hope that is the match the place Madueke can provide them a little bit of respiratory room.
The 23-year-old impressed towards Trent Alexander-Arnold when deployed on the Chelsea left final season, now he needs to be fancying his possibilities towards Milos Kerkez, who, whilst probably the most reserved of Liverpool’s two new fullbacks, will not be afraid of bombing on. Madueke’s direct operating and tempo appear ideally suited to probe the areas behind the champions’ backline, areas during which Bournemouth and Newcastle have relished. This could possibly be a main alternative for the brand new man to win over the skeptics within the Arsenal fanbase.
