Premier League leaders Liverpool will face their first big test of the season on Saturday when they host Arsenal at Anfield.
The Reds have made a good start to the league, and even though they haven’t yet kept a cleansheet, the team coped well with all the travelling and the tiredness of the Super Cup triumph with a professional display against Southampton last weekend.
Arsenal are the only other side to have won their first two games, and will want to end their torrid run at Anfield, though it will take some doing as the Reds have now gone two seasons without being beaten at their home ground.
Naby Keita’s nightmare, unfortunately, continues as the former Leipzig star will miss out once again. Fabinho and Jordan Henderson are in contention to start after only getting action as substitutes against Southampton last weekend.
Defence
Liverpool’s defence did come under the cosh against Southampton last weekend, and if it wasn’t for a poor shot by Danny Ings towards the end, the Reds could have dropped points. Alisson’s absence has played a role as stand-in ‘keeper Adrian’s distribution and calmness are not the same.
Nevertheless, we expect Adrian to remain in goal, and he might have a difficult game against Arsenal whose attackers will be advised to put pressure on the Spaniard.
Trent-Alexander Arnold could come up against Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and even though Joe Gomez is a more accomplished defensively, we expect TAA to start as he can test Arsenal’s defence as they don’t have issues at the back. Andy Robertson should continue at left-back, and he is likely to have a lot of joy as well.
Virgil Van Dijk and Gomez might feature at the heart of the defence. Gomez might get the nod ahead of Joel Matip owing to his pace, something that might be needed against an agile Arsenal strike force.
Midfield
Fabinho and Jordan Henderson are sure-shot starters, and Jürgen Klopp will have to decide between the trio of Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain, Gini Wijnaldum and James Milner for the final spot.
While Wijnaldum and Milner will offer more compactness, and are the obvious choices considering Klopp likes his midfield to be compact in the big games, Oxlade-Chamberlain against his former club wouldn’t be a bad choice either.
The former Gunners man can press, and with a full pre-season behind him, he will be eager to make up for lost time last season. We expect Klopp to take a gamble and go with Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Attack
No real head-scratcher this. Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, and Mohamed Salah should start up top for the Reds.
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