Before a ball had been kicked this season, Liverpool\u2019s trip to Arsenal was billed as a title fight, but the defending champions arrive at the Emirates in a different place. A nine-match unbeaten run has eased pressure on Arne Slot, yet performances remain inconsistent. Draws with Leeds United (twice), Sunderland and Fulham underline how much work remains, even after a \u00a3446 million summer spend.<\/p>\n
First, Slot should selectively restore attacking intent. Criticism has followed lifeless displays against Leeds and Fulham, and Slot shifted to pragmatism and solidity to steady a disastrous autumn. A return to an offensive-minded strategy is needed in the coming weeks, but Thursday\u2019s trip is not the moment to abandon caution. Liverpool found success away at Inter, winning 1\u20130 at the San Siro in the Champions League last month by setting up narrow and compact to nullify game-changers like Lautaro Mart\u00ednez and Nicol\u00f2 Barella.<\/p>\n
Second, the defensive shape must be more robust. Slot used a narrow 4-4-2 diamond in Milan; a narrow 4-2-3-1 at the Emirates should aim to replicate that compactness. Joe Gomez would be a smart inclusion at right back (if deemed fit enough) to further solidify the backline. Deploying Florian Wirtz in a wide role while using four natural central midfielders\u2014Curtis Jones, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch\u2014will help deny Arsenal the space they enjoy. Arsenal have lost just twice this season and remain unbeaten at the Emirates, so containment is a prerequisite.<\/p>\n
Third, Liverpool must fix set-piece defending now. The Reds have conceded 12 non-penalty goals in the Premier League, their most since 2015\u201316, and 43% of league goals conceded this season have come from set pieces. The club parted ways with set-piece coach Aaron Briggs as they try to address the problem. Arsenal have scored 12 non-penalty set-piece goals this season and Gabriel has scored in his last two matches. Practicing dead-ball scenarios will be a priority in training.<\/p>\n
If Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 is absent again, Liverpool should lean on Florian Wirtz. Wirtz has three goal contributions in his last four games and, after a slow start, is creating chances; only Szoboszlai has created more for Liverpool in the Premier League this season. Against a strong Arsenal defense, those three adjustments offer the best path to an upset.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Slot must tighten set-piece defence, revive attacking intent and deploy Wirtz if Ekitik\u00e9 misses soon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,175],"tags":[1023,299],"class_list":["post-5820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-liverpool","tag-alexis-mac-allister","tag-arne-slot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}